24Seven
by DarkElements10
Summary: Sequel to Elevate. Big Time Rush learns a hard lesson when they're working on their third CD; you have a private life, but its public property…
1. Prologue

**24/Seven**

**By: Riley**

**Summary - **Sequel to _Elevate. _Big Time Rush learns a hard lesson when they're working on their third CD; you have a private life, but its public property…

**Pairings:** Kiley (KendallxRiley) Della (DakxRhuben) Lomille (LoganxCamille Jameo (JamesxJo) Carphanie (CarlosxStephanie) Patie (PatrickxKatie) Nizzie (NoahxLizzie) Racy (RonanxMrs. Knight)

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**.:Prologue:.**

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Years ago being a movie star or a famous singer was the most glamorous dream that anyone could come up with. The limos, magazine covers, and movie premiers were all dreams that people would kill for. Who wouldn't want to be a celeb? To be admired all across the globe for your television personas. It's almost more than anyone could ask for.

In recent years, celebrities who spent so much time climbing their way to the top are shying away from the spotlight. Why? Because being in the spotlight doesn't have the same gratification it used to. Who wants to be chased by the paparazzi? Would you still love your job if people cared more about your relationship than you? Would your fans stick by you when the consequences of the decisions that you make get around? Can you trust the people from your past? They have all the fame and money in the world. But none of that can replace the privacy they've lost as well as the time spent apart from family and friends….It makes you wonder if it's worth it.

But Big Time Rush can handle it….right?

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**A/N: **Yep, it's the sequel to _Elevate _and it follows the same idea from that story, where its some ideas I had as to how/why the songs were done.

This story is set in season 4 (yay, my first one) and very loosely follows some ideas the timeline that we have set. Only because our timeline for season 4 isn't completely fleshed out and not many episodes of the season have aired. My first story for season four that will completely follow the timeline will be called _It's Been A While _so keep an eye out for that. Also, the idea for this story has been merged with my original idea for _Private Lives, Public Property_

Cheers,

-Riles


	2. New Rules, New Contracts, New Co-worker

**.:Chapter One – New Rules, New Contracts, New Co-worker:.**

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"Garcia takes the puck, he darts past Diamond, he bypasses Mitchell, he brings his stick back to-"

"Time out!"

The giant grin on Carlos's face was immediately wiped clean as Kendall Knight dropped his hockey stick and started to dig his hand into his jeans pocket. Carlos's shoulders slumped and he pouted, lightly kicking at the asphalt in front of him. Logan and James laughed at the pout on Carlos's face, considering the fact that Kendall had stopped him from getting the game-winning goal. Though it wasn't that hard, they only had a section of the PalmWoods parking lot to use to play, especially since Bitters had grown tired of the windows they had broken from the games they played before.

"Uh-huh, uh-huh, uh-huh, alright," Kendall hung up the phone and slid it into his pocket before turning to his three best friends with a bright smile on his face. "So I don't know if you were able to hear him over the phone, but Gustavo needs us at Rocque Records right now."

"Ugh!" Carlos groaned, throwing his hockey stick to the ground. "And I was _this_ close to winning it for us!"

"Fat chance!" James reached out a gloved hand and bumped fists with Kendall. "There was no way that you and Logan could have beaten us even if we had our hands tied behind our backs." He flashed a charming smile and Kendall smirked as he nodded in agreement.

"Seriously, you guys are freaking sore winners," Logan said. He and the boys pulled off their hockey gear and sat down on the curb as they changed back into their shoes from their rollerblades. "Anyway, did Gustavo say what he wanted us for?"

"What does he _ever_ want us for?" Carlos snorted, lacing his shoes. "He just wants to yell at us."

"Nah." Kendall shook his head. "He said something about going over the rules for our band as well as figuring out what direction we want to go in when it comes to the new CD." He looked at his watch before wiping sweat off his forehead.

"Sweet," James said. He looked at his watch. "We should probably get going then."

"Oh! Wait!" Kendall leapt to his feet and walked over to a nearby tree. When he came back, he had a piglet in his arms. "We can't forget Yuma, we have to get her back up to the crib before Bitters sees her." He ran a hand over the piglet's back as she sat nestled in his arms.

"You can just walk right through the front door," Carlos pointed out. "The only way that Bitters is going to know that you have her, against his 'no pets policy' is if she was a plate of bacon." Yuma let out a loud squeal and dug her snout into Kendall's arm. Kendall glared at Carlos. "I was _kidding_!"

"Wait, there's Katie!" Logan pointed over to the PalmWoods Park, where Kendall's little sister was walking towards the PalmWoods, a backpack on her back. "We can just have her take Yuma back in and we can get to Rocque Records on time for once."

"Good idea." Kendall walked over to his sister and gave her a bright smile. "Hey, Baby Sister!" He greeted her.

"Hey, Big Brother," Katie replied, smiling back. She reached out and scratched Yuma behind the ears. "Hey, Yuma." She placed her hands on her backpack straps and lightly twisted back and forth. "What's up?"

"We need to go to Rocque Records to meet with Gustavo and Kelly," Kendall explained. He then gave her a sheepish smile. "But I need to get Yuma back up to the crib before Bitters sees her and takes her away. So…d'you mind?"

"Not at all." Katie pulled her backpack off and set it on the ground. She unzipped it and opened it wide. "Just put her in here and I'll get her up to the apartment, no problem." She then grinned evilly. "Besides, if she makes any noise, then I can make Bitters think he's going crazy."

Kendall laughed and placed Yuma in Katie's backpack before leaving over and giving Katie a kiss on the head. He then went back to James, Logan, and Carlos and the four of them jumped into the Big Time Rush mobile and drove the familiar drive to Rocque Records.

It was hard for them to believe that they had been working with Gustavo for three years. They were nineteen now and back when they were sixteen, had two great CDs under their belt and were now getting ready to start production on their third one. If anyone had asked them when they first started Big Time Rush if they thought that they would get this far, they would have probably laughed in their face. Besides James who always knew that he was going to make it big some way or another. But now it was something that they couldn't imagine their lives being without. Los Angeles had become their home; all of the friends that they had made there had become parts of their family, and they wouldn't trade in any of the experiences that they had in Los Angeles for anything in the world.

Kendall had been completely against becoming a band in the first place, because it wasn't something that he wanted, but while out there, he quickly learned that he could live his dreams anyway he wanted. So while he put his dream of being a hockey player aside, he created a new dream of wanting to be as successful as he could with his best friends. Logan was in the same boat as he dropped his dream of being a doctor in the band. Carlos, at first, only seemed to be pushed by the idea of the LA girls as well as having fun, but was always open to the idea. And James never wanted anything else. Now that the four of them were living the dreams that they had been working for, for the past three years, they only saw that things were going to get better for them.

When they got to Rocque Records, Kelly was waiting outside for them, like she usually did, but this time, their best friends, the Jacksons-McGuires, aka the Jacksons, aka the DarkElements, whom they had been working with for the past two years, and Carlos's girlfriend, Stephanie King, was waiting with her.

"Hey guys," Logan greeted them all with a bright smile.

"Yo." Patrick nodded.

"What's up?" Noah and Sydney chorused.

"Hey babes," Rhuben greeted with a wave.

"Hey boys," Riley added.

"Hey." Stephanie smiled.

Her smile widened as Carlos walked over to her and gave her a kiss on the cheek and put his arm around her upper back. Out of all of his friends, he and Stephanie were the ones that had been together the longest, as they had been going out since the PalmWoods dance, when they were sixteen, and had been going strong since then. Kendall, Logan, and James always made the joke that they were going to end up married with a bunch of kids sooner than anyone would expect, though Carlos was sure that it was just because they wanted to be 'uncles' to each other's potential kids.

"Alright, everyone's here, follow me." Kelly looked at her watch before leading the group inside. "Gustavo is in his office and should be with us in a few moments, hopefully Griffin won't bust in and bother us, and Ronan said that he'd be a little late but will be here as soon as he can." She looked at her watch before turning to Kendall. "What about your Mom?"

"She said that she'd be here as soon as she could," Kendall explained, shoving his hands into his jeans pockets. "As soon as she was done with that interview, but she'll be here as soon as she can." He gave a modest shrug. "Being a Momager isn't easy for her, but she's doing her best."

"How's that going anyway?" Sydney asked, leaning over so he could see Kendall's face. "I mean, now everyone in your family, but Katie is in the music industry." He grinned. "Aren't you afraid that she's going to get bit by the fame bug too?"

"Not unless she can miraculously carry a note," James commented. "She can't sing to save her life." He studied Sydney. "It's still weird to hear your voice cracking like that, dude,"

"Don't remind me." Sydney blushed, crossing his arms over his chest.

Big Time Rush, the DarkElements, and Stephanie followed Kelly into a conference room and took the empty chairs that were sitting around the table. They could hear piano playing form down the hallway and guessed that Gustavo was hard at work. It was their third album and Gustavo was just as worried about it as the boys were. It wasn't just BTR's name that was on the line, it was his as well, being their music producer. He was the driving force behind all of their songs, writing most of them (before Big Time Rush came out with _Elevate _where they wrote most of the songs o the CD) but everything else was from Gustavo. With the surge in pop music, they had to stay at the top and he was doing his hardest to make sure that Big Time Rush's third album got off to a good start.

"Gustavo's not in a bad mood is he?" Logan winced at the sudden pounding on the keyboard. "It sounds like he's not getting very far on whatever song he's working on right now?"

"How'd that different from any other time he writes a song?" Rhuben asked, pulling her hair into a low ponytail over her left shoulder. She rolled her dark blue eyes. "Have you already forgotten how he acted when he stayed with you guys when his 'mansion flooded'?"

"Don't remind me," Kendall and James chorused, dark looks on their faces. It was evident that they weren't going to get over that abuse anytime soon.

Kelly rolled her eyes, although she was smiling at the conversation. Having been around the guys just as long as Gustavo had, there were many moments where she wanted to rip her hair out from all of the stress that they had given her and Gustavo over the past couple of years. She had been dragged in to so many schemes and plans and crazy mischief that she was surprised she didn't have a permanent twitch. But that didn't mean that she didn't enjoy spending so much time with the guys, they made things more interesting, and they were very talented with the work that they were doing and she knew that they were going to go far before the boy band craze fell out of popularity again.

"If you want to be completely technical, it was your guys' fault that you even let him have fun," Kelly pointed out. She sat up straight and flashed Gustavo a disarming smile when he walked through the doorway. "Hey Gustavo, the guys were just waiting for you!" She smiled brightly at the suspicious look that he sent her way, obvious having heard his name before he entered the room.

"Let's get started!" Gustavo boomed, clapping his hands together as he sat down at the head of the table. He opened his mouth and then stopped, glancing around the table. He pointed at Stephanie. "Who's she?" He demanded. "What's she doing here?"

"Don't worry, there's a good reason for it," Riley calmly said. "But we can't say anything until Ronan gets here."

"Ok, well, then I guess we'll just get started with Big Time Rush then," Gustavo said calmly, turning to the four teenage boys. They stared back at him in shock, surprised that he wasn't ranting and raving about being unprofessional, but now he was as patient as they had ever seen him before. Even when he was being brainwashed by Bhudda Bob to be as calm as possible, that didn't even last long. "So, the results of your last CD…" he turned to Kelly and took a folder that she was holding out to him. He opened it and spread out a bunch of papers that were inside. "It ranked very well with the demographic that you were looking for and people are now taking you more seriously than just another boy band in pop music."

"More importantly, how many copies did we sell?" James asked, leaning forward as he rested his arms on the table.

Gustavo flipped through a few of the papers. "According to these statistics, you all have sold over two million copies worldwide as of late, as well as getting a gold certification in Mexico and Venezuela." He paused and looked up from the papers as the guys let out a whopping cheer, punching the air with their fists. "Calm down, dogs! That's not nearly as good as Nsync's record, don't get too excited."

The Jacksons laughed to themselves as Big Time Rush slowly, visibly deflated. Stephanie moved her hands over her mouth to keep from laughing out loud. Leave it to Gustavo to try and shoot down the guys' celebration when he had something to say.

"There're still a lot of things that you guys need to work on, if you want to be the best boy band," Gustavo continued." He shuffled all of the papers together and put them up in a stack before snapping his fingers. Kelly shot him a glare as she took the folder and then handed him four large stacks of paper. "These are your contracts; we need to look over them." He passed them out to Kendall, Logan, Carlos, and James. "And this is what we need your mother four, since this is your third album and you're contracted to do three of them, we have some space in the contract for negotiation if you want it." He cracked his knuckles loudly. "But before we get to that, we need to talk about the direction of your new album and your new looks."

"Well, we were thinking…" Kendall spoke up, always being the one to say what all of the guys were thinking. "We liked the way that we went with our second album…and we were glad that we were able to relate more to our older fans, those that are our age."

"But we were thinking of going back to the sound that we had during our first album," Logan said, clearing his throat as he sat up straight. "Statistics showed that people resonated more with our music when it was just about having fun and living life positively. Parents of our younger fans were a bit turned off by some of the messages in the new songs on Elevate, and not that we didn't like it, and we enjoyed being able to write more of our own songs, we liked the message from the first album better."

Patrick tilted his head and gave Logan an odd look, resting his cheek in his upraised palm. "And you couldn't have just come out and said 'we liked the sound of our old album better'?" he asked in a slightly condescending tone. "Unless you just wanted to sound smart."

"You should try it," Sydney quipped.

Patrick glared at his baby brother, who smirked back at him.

"Logan's right though," Carlos agreed. "We really did like the idea of our first album and thought that we could do even better chart wise and radio play, if we went back to a sound that people recognized more."

"Wow." Riley's eyes widened. She sat up straight and turned towards her siblings, an exaggerated look of innocence on her face. "Can you believe it? These blokes are making smart decisions for once in their lives."

The Jacksons all snickered as Big Time Rush rolled their eyes, used to their antics and put downs. But the two bands had been working together for the past two years and were best friends, so the guys were used to their put downs, jokes, and light teasing at that point.

"Are you sure that this is really want you want?" Kelly asked, exchanging a glance with Gustavo, her thumbs flying over her Palm Pilot, making a note to herself. "Not that we don't trust your decision, you have more say in what you're able to do today, but it still has to go through us, Griffin, and Fujisaki at the most."

"We're sure," James confirmed. "Going back to our old sound, but still putting a new spin on it." He then grinned, rapidly raising and lowering his eyebrows. "Nothing would make the ladies love me more than the new dance moves that I've thought of to go with my new haircut. It'll really help when I start to go solo."

"You're actually going to willingly cut your hair?" Stephanie asked, her eyebrows rising in shock. "That's a shock."

"Hey, if all of my adoring fans love me now, they're going to love me even more after I get it done," James said. "Right?" He winked over at Riley and Rhuben, who smiled and shook their heads.

"Should've seen that coming," Rhuben remarked.

"Ok then," Gustavo skimmed through another page. "Now that we've got that out of the way, we need to talk about collaborations. When you guys were still in your contract with these people," he lazily waved a hand towards the Jacksons. "You were contractionally obligated to produce one more song collaboration, so we may need to get that done sooner rather than later, so keep that in mind."

"But how can we do that if they're not in a contract with Rocque Records anymore?" Kendall asked, his eyebrows lowering in confusion. From the contracts and papers that his mother agonized over, trying to understand when she decided to become their Momager, he understood a little bit about how they worked. That, of course, was also because Katie was constantly thinking up contracts for different talent to be a talent manager herself, but that was only because she wanted the money out of all of it.

"As a favor," Gustavo said shortly. His shoulders hunched up towards his ears and he glared at the paper in front of his face. "And let's just leave it at that."

"More like you lost a bet," Ronan McGuire joked as he walked into the room. "Either way, Gustavo's not going to tell you the truth." He sat down in an empty seat next to Gustavo and dropped his briefcase onto the table. "Sorry I'm late; I was on the phone with Alan, back in Australia to see how things were going over there." He leaned back, crossing his legs. "What'd I miss?"

"Just the fact that the guys are going back to their old style and that we still need to do one more collaboration, Dad," Noah said, crossing his arms and resting them on the table, adopting James's stance.

"Good," Ronan shuffled through some of his own papers. "Then I think that we should talk about the new rules that you guys have." He turned to Gustavo and Kelly. "If that's alright with you guys," he added. Kelly nodded and Gustavo just grunted, waving a hand for him to go. "Ok, as you all know when you started working together, you first had the rule that there were to be no romantic entanglements between the bands, and then we got rid of that rule. Now, Gustavo, Kelly, Mrs. Knight and I agree that we're stepping back from that rule. What you all do in your private lives if none of our business just as long as you're being safe in all aspects of it. The only times that we'll ask any questions is if we're just curious how things are going or if we get the news that something of your guys' business may get put out into the media." He lowered the lid of his briefcase and looked at Riley and Rhuben before looking over at Kendall. "For you guys especially."

"Uh…" Kendall's eyes shifted back and forth. "Why me?"

"Because you're dating Riley now, people are going to dig more into your relationship as possible, especially since you're supposed to be rivals in the industry and because you dated Jo and Lucy first. They may try to make up as many stories as they can to capitalize on your rivalry as they can, even possibly trying to tear you two apart to get as much dirt as possible," Ronan explained. "Though so far you've done a good job of keeping it out of the spotlight. Also, since Dak had been asking Rhu out for four years and they're now together they're just gonna bug em' more."

Rhuben twirled a finger in the air, already used to it. Since she had started to date Dak Zevon, even before then, the teen magazines capitalized on the fact that he was so open about how he felt about her to make as many articles as they could about them.

Ronan turned his gaze to her. "I know you're used to it, but I'm still warning you about it," he said in a slightly sharp tone. "So don't brush me off."

"Sorry," Rhuben said, her face softening as she nodded.

"Also, that goes with the rule of the curfew and whatnot when we're on tour or whatever. If you're over 18, it's none of our business what you do, unless, like I said, you volunteer the information or it's going to be put out in the media." Ronan shifted his papers around. "Hmm, what else? Now that most of you are out of school you have to spend more time in the studio to get your work done, but you still have to be responsible on your time off." He glanced over at Logan. "Those that decide to continue with their education, just talk to us so we can figure how to get that done. If you do continue with your education, then the rue of keeping grades up still applies. For those of you that won't, keeping up with your other responsibilities before you can perform stands."

"Oh come on," James groaned. "This is our third year doing this; don't you think that we can make our own decisions at this point?"

"We agree that until we think you're ready, or until you turn twenty at the most, it'd be better if you still had a system to make sure you were in peak shape to perform," Ronan said calmly. "That being said, my kids don't have a curfew, you guys have to talk to Mrs. Knight about yours, and then when you have performances, you all have a set curfew that can't be negotiated. No drinking or drugs until you're of legal age in America." He lifted his gaze to the two bands this time. "Is that fine with you all?"

He got nods in reply.

"Alright, the rule that we had about visitors." Ronan clasped his hands together in front of him. "We've decided to take that down. So your friends can all come to the studio whenever they want, but you still have to work hard when you need to work, instead of goofing off."

Carlos blinked. "What's everyone looking at me for?" He asked. When he continued to get stared at, he threw his hands up into the air. "You ruin a few pieces of equipment through a nerf gun fight and you get branded for life!"

There was once a small incident where Carlos had gotten so bored when they were trying to record some songs for their second album that he started to sore a cache of nerf guns at the studio. So one day that he was bored and didn't have much to do while he was waiting for James to get done with his vocal work, he went to the cabinet and took out one of the biggest guns. He waited behind a couch and shot Logan in the back of the head until Logan got so annoyed that he grabbed a gun of his own and started to shoot back. Before anyone knew it, the four guys were stuck in a all out war, somehow managing to break a set of speakers, a microphone, and a amp before Gustavo had managed to get them to stop.

Then they had to get some more jobs to pay them back for it.

"And that brings my attention to the recent developments with my kids," Ronan said. He turned and gave a proud smile to Riley, Rhuben, Patrick, Noah, and Sydney. "Now that their album _Black and White _has won the album of the year award at the ARIAs they need to be able to top that with a new CD. They have some old demos that they were working on, but haven't decided if those will go on the new CD as well as the new songs that they'll come up with over this next year. So while they're working on their new stuff, they also have to make sure that Steph is caught up with everything." He turned to Stephanie, who gave an excited smile. "Especially now that she's going on a different direction from her filmmaking."

"Wait, so does that mean that Steph is being signed to Blazing Phoenix?" Carlos asked, scratching the side of his neck. He looked excited at the idea, while Kendall, Logan, and James looked confused.

"Yes and no," Ronan said patiently. "I'm thinking of signing her as freelance talent, since she dances and does a bit of singing. The fact that she's a filmmaker too could potentially help my marketing department as well." He gave a light laugh before waving an arm towards his daughters. "As a suggestion from Riles and Rhubes, but on a trial basis right now as we're seeing how she will do out there on her own. Maybe like an intern or something." Ronan cleared his throat before continuing. "So now, she's slowly being pushed out there with the help of Riley and Rhuben, mostly, but from Patrick, Noah, and Sydney as well. All under my label. Meaning that while she is their backup dancer, we're also going to be promoting her work." He turned to Riley and Rhuben. "I also think that you guys should each co-write a song with her, that way she'll get the gist of how to write songs with different themes and to different melodies and such."

"Sounds cool!" Stephanie agreed with a bright smile. She exchanged glances with Carlos, who smiled brightly in reply. Now the two of them could spend even more time together than they already did. And now she was going to be able to understand how hard it was to be in the music industry. "I always wanted to try writing a song."

"Ok, so we got that settled," Gustavo said loudly, shifting the attention back to himself. "We need to talk about your guys' new styles for the new album and everything later. But I think that's all we need to go on right now."

"I just have one more thing to say," Ronan said back, shooting Gustavo a mocking glare. "Unless you want to find a way to be an attention hog like you usually are and pout when you don't get your way."

"I don't pout," Gustavo shot back. "You don't know what you're talking about, McGuire."

"So that thing where you act like a five year old is just you being yourself?" Ronan snorted. "That makes a lot of sense."

"I'm warning you-"

"Settle down, children," Kelly said, holding up her hands. She turned to Kendall. "I'm going to e-mail your mom about everything we went over today; we want to give you guys some time to think about the new direction your CD is going to go and if you want to start working on your own songs. So you have the rest of the day off."

"Yes!" Kendall, Logan, Carlos, and James cheered in unison, leaping to their feet. Carlos then leaned over and grabbed on to Stephanie's hand, pulling her to her feet as well. "You might want to take advantage of this," he warned. "There aren't many days that we get off."

"No problem." Stephanie laughed, allowing herself to be pulled to her feet. "But I can't wait for everything to get started," she said as she followed her friends out of the conference room towards the entrance to Rocque Records. She looked over at the Jacksons. "I mean, I already got their routines down, but I haven't actually done it live yet, and I'm really excited for that. But I'm even more excited for your guys' new stuff!"

"And for our new looks," James reminded her.

"Yeah, James, that's what we're all looking forward to," Patrick said, dead-pan. He then snapped his fingers as he turned to his siblings. "But it _is_ a new year," he said slowly. His siblings started to smile. "And there's always one thing that we do when it's a new year."

"What's that?" Logan snorted. "Find a way to get Gustavo to scream at us more than two-hundred times in a month?"

"Interesting, but no." Patrick placed his hands on his hips. "It's going to be something that you might want Mama Knight's permission for..."

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**A/N: **Sorry this chapter was so dialogue driven, but it had to be since it was talking about BTRs new style for 24Seven as well as their own personal styles as well as a little bit of DE's. I'm also going to bring in some more real life stuff with the guys in this and instead of making you guys wait in suspense, I'll tell you it now, so you can anticipate how it'll play out as the story goes on.

I'm writing this story kind of like the show, as we don't know if the 4th season is the last. That's why I think it would make sense for this (and for our timeline in general) that it sort of brings up the future. In real life James is hinting that he wants to go solo, Kendall is starting up with Heffron Drive, I believe that Carlos could be married soon, and…well, idk about Logan, so I thought that it would make sense if we brought it up in the characters as well. James wants to go solo, Kendall is thinking about his future of hockey or music, Carlos with his relationship with Stephanie, and…still IDK about Logan since his character doesn't seem to want to be a doctor anymore.

I hope that makes a lot of sense, because like I said before, this story is very loosely based around our season 4 timeline, it doesn't follow it exactly because it focuses more on the guys' problems than DE's although there are some points that are the same. Things will be really fleshed out as the season continues to air and we get to the stories that do follow the timeline since we've seen it for seasons 1-3 so far.

I hope you guys liked the chapter.

Cheers,

-Riles


	3. Scandals and News

**.:Chapter Two –Scandals and News:.**

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"And then you place your hands on the ground and rock your body weight forward, then move your legs to the side…"

"I don't think I can move my legs like that," Kendall said, lifting his head. Sweat ran down his face as he sat back and stretched his legs out in front of him on the polished, hardwood floor of the Rocque Records dance studio. He hastily wiped it away. "Without having to be rushed to the hospital at least." He flashed a smile.

"You need to stretch more," Rhuben commented as she sat down in front of him. She tossed him a towel before scratching at her left hand by her star tattoo. "Or exercise a bit more. If you want to improve, you're going to need to be flexible."

"But?" Kendall asked, giving her a hopeful smile.

"But," Rhuben pushed her shoulder length black/purple hair behind her shoulders and fixed her dark blue eyes on him. "You have been getting better. There are a few hiccups here and there, but you're getting better."

Kendall smiled his thanks.

He had been working along with her and her siblings for three years now and she was one of his best friends. Judging by appearances, some people would question why he was friends with her; she was the person that could look at you in a way that seemed like she was looking right through you. She could also look at you so coldly that you wanted to apologize for something, even if you didn't do anything to apologize for. But at the same time she had a heart of gold and was fiercely loyal of her friends and family and was willing to help him and his friends with whatever they needed help with. Sure she gave a comment here and there about how stupid they were to get in some sort of predicament, but she would jump to help with no questions asked.

"Is that all for today?" Kendall opted to use the bottom of his shirt to wipe the sweat off of his face, ignoring the towel that Rhuben had thrown at him.

"Yep." Rhuben nodded. "You're done."

"Sweet!" Kendall lowered the bottom of his shirt. "Do you need to have another guitar lesson?"

"Not that I'm aware of," Rhuben replied slowly, thinking about it. "We don't have anything coming up, so there's no rush." She stood up and stretched her arms over her head before going over to her own gym bag. "Pun intended." She slung her bag over her shoulders. "Thanks for the offer though."

"No problem." Kendall got to his feet and went over to his own gym bag, throwing it over his shoulders. "I'm glad to help, since you're still willing to give me private practices with our choreography." He rolled his eyes. "Even though I'm such a dope at the moves."

"You're not a dope," Rhuben reassured him. "Kinda slow, maybe, but not a dope. No worries, you're doing fine, K-Dawg."

"Thanks," Kendall rolled his eyes. He reached into the side pocket of his bag and pulled out the car keys to the Big Time Rush Mobile, a key to the crib attached o it. "Are you coming to the apartment on Friday?"

"At 6:30, like usual." Rhuben led Kendall out of the dance studio, turned off the lights, and locked the door.

"You can bring Dak if you want," Kendall offered, leaning against the wall by the door, watching her movements. "I know that you don't really have much time left until he has to go back to New York or wherever." He knew that her boyfriend, the teen Icon, Dak Zevon's leaving, more often than not now, to work on theatre tours bummed her out whenever it got closer to him leaving. Usually they didn't allow anyone but the two bands to come to their 'tradition' but he figured that they could make an exception sometime.

"We'll see," Rhuben said shortly. "You never know what could happen if he's around…" she trailed off mysteriously and Kendall nodded, knowing what she was implying. "See ya, babe." She raised her hand in a peace sign and when the two walked out of Rocque Records, she went to the right as Kendall went to the left to get into the Big Time Rush mobile.

He pulled out of the parking lot and drove back to the PalmWoods, opting to take the long way to get there, just so he could enjoy the sunshine and the warm weather. There were many times over the past three years that he forgot that he had ever lived in any place other than LA. It seemed like it was a second home to him, once they got comfortable with all of the new 'rules' and the way that people lived in LA. Once they started to become a big success, and even had the potential of leaving the city if their demo didn't get picked up, he realized that he had quickly fallen in love with it. Not that he didn't miss Minnesota; he did miss how it got cold, and how he could play hockey every day, and how people still enjoyed sledding and snowball fights. But he wouldn't trade his experiences with his best friends and with their band for anything.

When Kendall got back to his crib, he noticed that things didn't seem as lively as usual. James was the only one that was acting like himself, looking into his handheld mirror and combing his hair with his lucky comb. The smile that was on his face could rival the one that someone that had just won the lottery would wear. But then there was Carlos, who was nervous biting his nails, and Logan, who was staring off into space that worried him.

Katie was standing over the couch, her arms crossed over her chest, and looking at them while shaking her head.

"What's going on?" Kendall asked with a look of bewilderment as he tossed his bag to the floor. He turned and hung up the keys to the Big Time Rush mobile on the hook by the door so whoever needed it next could use it. He then turned back around and kneeled down, scratching Yuma on the back and behind the ears as she ran over to him. "What's up with Carlos and Logan?"

"I don't know," James shrugged, still engrossed in his reflection. He stretched his face a few times and made funny faces into the mirror. Kendall made a face and exchanged a glance with Katie, who shook her head, rolling her eyes. Kendall turned turned back to James, his eyes widening when he noticed that James was now stretching his lips. "I didn't even notice."

"That's a shock," Kendal deadpanned. He turned his attention to Katie. "What's up, Baby Sister?"

"With me or them?" Katie asked, turning to face her brother. "With me, nothing, and that's been the usual thing since we came here." Kendall moved to her side and gave her a kiss on the head. "With them, girl problems of course."

"What is it this time?" Kendall asked with a laugh. "Camille not giving you enough attention?" He teased Logan. Everyone knew that that wasn't possible.

"No," Logan said slowly. He gave Kendall a pitiful look. "I just have a feeling that she's bored with our relationship."

"Well, to be honest, you two are in the proverbial married for years stage," Kendall said with a half smile. "If you're not making out like crazy in the lobby, you're either fighting about something stupid, or are just sitting there enjoying each other's company."

"The whole making out thing is gross, by the way," Katie added.

Logan ignored her. "So how am I supposed to make a relationship more interesting?" He threw his hands into the air. "I feel like she doesn't want to do anything with me anymore."

"I don't know." Kendall shrugged. "I've never had that problem with Riles." He grinned, raising and lowering his eyebrows. He burst out laughing when Katie glared over at her older brother. He held up his palms, letting her know that he was kidding, though the way that he was laughing made her think otherwise.

Logan sneered at him. "Thanks Kendall, that was _really_ helpful."

"Just talk to her about it." Kendall's laughter subsided although he was still smiling. "The only way you're going to figure out how to fix things is if you talk it through." He looked over at Carlos. "So what's up with you, dude? Are you and Stephanie bored too?"

"No," Carlos said slowly. "It's just that her father asked me to meet up with him so we can talk." He jumped up and grabbed onto Kendall's shirt. "I don't know what to do or what to say! I've never really talked to him for more than a few minutes."

"Carlos, you and Mr. King get along, he likes you," Kendall reminded him.

"Yeah, but he never asked me to _actually_ talk to him before!" He started to shake Kendall, causing Katie to laugh. "Help me! You've dealt with Jo's dad before!"

"Only when he tried to have me arrested at Prom." Kendall grabbed onto Carlos's hands and pushed them off of him. "After that, I stayed clear of him as best as I could. He's part of the CIA; you never know what he could do. I was paranoid for weeks after she and I broke up. I thought he was going to kidnap me or something." He thought for a moment. "All I can say is that I think that you should just be yourself and talk to him, you don't know what he wants until you do."

"Geez, Kendall, you should become a guidance counselor," James said as he put his mirror down. "I mean, after years of your speeches and motivational speaking, you might as well get paid for it."

"Sorry, but I still want to be a hockey player." Kendall smiled. "But if that doesn't work out, then I might think about it. I _might_ give you guys a discount too." He laughed as he headed into his room to get ready to take a shower.

He walked by his desk and noticed that he had a letter. Curious, he picked it up and studied the loopy handwriting, trying to figure out who it was from.

As soon as he saw the return address he ripped the letter to shreds.

* * *

Logan waited until Kendall was in the shower before he went into their bedroom, closing the door behind him. He sat down on his bed and picked up a picture of him and Camille that had been taking when they had first started dating. He couldn't help but admit that Kendall was right; they didn't really do much else other than make-out and go to plays of the science museum if he wasn't too busy with his music or she wasn't too busy with her acting career. His band was getting even more popular than ever and she was already starting to get more opportunities for auditions.

But it was still hard for them to be together. They had just gotten the news that they could have whoever they wanted over at the studio and Camille was excited. Logan knew that she, Jo, Stephanie, Katie, and Lizzie, Dak Zevon's little sister, felt annoyed or just bad because they had to get permission first before they were able to go to the studio and hang out. Gustavo and Kelly wanted to keep them from getting distracted from girls and that worked for a while…before Kendall started to get interested in Riley and Logan and Rhuben went out for that short period of time. But it was different with them since they had always been allowed to go to Rocque Records as they had worked with them the whole time. Even when they weren't signed to Rocque Records anymore they would still to go to the studio to help out with whatever they could.

Kendall got too distracted waiting for her and her siblings to get to Rocque Records after their own studio work, to tell her a story about what had happened to them during their day, worked hard with whatever they were doing to try and impress her, or get mad whenever she would be paired up to help James for the day. It didn't really help with Logan either, since he would pay too much attention to the way that Rhuben moved for their choreography to do it himself. And when he was called out on it, he would try working even harder…and either become so frustrated with the work he was doing that he would mess up even more, or just shut down and not be able to do anything.

Or course James and Carlos never had that problem; Carlos had been committed to Stephanie ever since they had started dating, he liked her so much that he barely even looked at the Jennifers since he first saw her. And James never got distracted by girls, he could do anything he wanted to do as long as he had girls watching him and he certainly never got the comment that he was stuck in the marriage stage of the relationship. He and Jo seemed to be doing very well anyway.

Logan put down the picture and started to pace the room. What could he do to make things more interesting for their relationship? Logan glanced back over at the picture before turning to the mirror. He studied himself for a moment before a slow smile started to worm its way across his face. He grabbed the bottom of his shirt and pulled it up over his head, gently laying it on the end of his bed. He then pulled his phone out of his pocket and angled it towards the mirror, placing himself at the perfect angle. He opted out of smiling, wanting it to be a more serious picture and then took it before sending it to Camille with the comment _thinking of you._

A few seconds later he got a text back from Camille: **Whoo! Hottie alert! Nice pic, Logan!**

Logan smiled.

* * *

"Hey Jo," James said into his phone, stretching out across the pool chair. "How's your audition going?"

"I'm still sitting waiting for my chance to go," Jo replied with a heavy sigh. James could hear muffled talking in the background. The commercial audition must have been more popular than any of them thought. "There're so many people here, I don't think I'm going to be back at the PalmWoods before the sun goes down." James could practically see her roll her eyes. "So what's going on over there? What did Gustavo want to talk to you guys about?"

"We were talking about our new CD and the direction that we want our band to go," James said slowly. He ran a hand over his face before resting his palm against his eyes, blocking out the sun. "Jo, if I told you something, will you just listen and let me know what you think later?"

"Yeah," Jo sounded concerned. "What's up?"

"Well, with the direction or our band, we're thinking of going back to the sound of our first CD," James said slowly. "And we have more creative liberty when it comes to writing. And I'm totally for that, it'll be really cool…but…we have only a three year contract with Rocque Records and when that ends…we don't know what the band will do." He paused and licked his lips. "Do you think that it's the wrong time to talk about going solo? I mean, I brought it up, but I think they think I was joking."

"James, it's perfectly fine to think about your future," Jo said gently. "And they can't tell you what you think. If you do only have a three year contract left, then it's smart to think about your future right now."

"But what about the other guys?" James asked. "Especially when we could potentially have our contract renewed or extended. What if they want to continue with Big Time Rush? I wouldn't know how to bring it up."

"But you were the one that wanted this whole thing in the first place," Jo insisted. "Not the other three. They'll understand." There was a shuffling sound and James could hear Jo say something in the background. "Oh, it's my turn to go in, I'll talk to you when I get back, ok?"

"Sure thing, Babe," James replied. "Love you."

"Love you, too," Jo said and hung up.

* * *

Carlos paced back and forth in front of Stephanie's apartment. He knew that Mr. King was waiting for him; Carlos had been prompt in reply to his earlier phone call wanting to talk to them. But he had never talked to Mr. King seriously before. It had always been a 'hi' or a 'bye' or quick small talk as he waited for Stephanie to go on a date or when they were staying in and Mr. King was leaving for work. _What could it be? _Carlos brought a hand up to his mouth and started to chew on his fingernails. He wished that he had his helmet with him at a moment like this; it would bring him more comfort than trying to remember Logan's tips of not hyperventilating.

Finally, Carlos reached out a hand and knocked on the apartment door. He waited, his hands behind his back, rocking on his heels, for the door to open. He looked up and down the hallway before he turned back to the door when it opened. Carlos's bright smile faded when he saw Stephanie's face. She had tears in her eyes, her eyes were red and puffy, and she was looking at her feet.

"Steph, are you ok?" Carlos asked, reaching out and resting his hands on her shoulders. He reached up and brushed her tears away. "What's wrong?"

"Oh, it's nothing," Stephanie said unconvincingly. She brought up her hands and wiped her eyes with her palms. "Nothing in particular." She sniffed loudly before giving him a shaky smile. "How are you doing today?"

"Good before I saw that you were upset," Carlos said quietly. "Do you want to go somewhere to talk? I can talk to your dad later, he'll understand." He reached out a hand and grabbed onto hers, gently rubbing it with her thumb.

Stephanie shook her head.

"I'm alright, but my dad really wants to see you," Stephanie said. She tightened her grip on his hand and led him into her apartment, closing the door behind him. She gave him another smile before walking over t the couch. Her father was sitting in the arm chair across from the two of them. Stephanie avoided her father's glance and continued to wipe her eyes.

"Hey Mr. King," Carlos said with a respectful nod. He reached out a hand and Mr. King took it, shaking it firmly. "How are you doing?"

"I'm good Carlos," Mr. King said casually. "How're you?"

"Great." Carlos smiled. "We got some great news about our band and our new CD, so we can't wait to get started."

"That's good, that's good." Mr. King nodded. He leaned back in his chair, pressing his fingertips together. "So I bet you're wondering why you're here. "Carlos looked over at Stephanie and nodded. "Well, I may as well cut to the chase. I know that you really care for my daughter and I know that you really care about her."

"Right." Carlos's smile widened as he looked over at Stephanie. "I'm in love with her." Stephanie gave a small smile back, then immediately looked away.

"And I bet you believe that you're going to spend the rest of your life together," Mr. King continued. Carlos's smile started to fade. "Carlos, I couldn't help but notice that during the last year at the PalmWoods, Stephanie's grades had dipped down a bit lower than they usually were. Now that you guys are done with school at the PalmWoods, she's thinking of taking some college courses at a nearby community college, while she gets her filming off of the ground. I don't want to see her squander her future over a boy."

Carlos frowned. "What does that mean?"

Mr. King pressed his mouth into a thin line. "Well, I think that what you guys have is really special, but I don't think it's what you need right now. When you work on your music, while touring, you'll be leaving her behind and I'd rather not have her just sit around waiting for you to get back." He crossed his legs. "Long story short, I think you two are too into each other right now and that you need a break."

"What?" Carlos blinked.

"He wants us to beak up," Stephanie said.

* * *

Sydney frowned, lowering his goggle from his face as he leaned into his computer screen. He then sat back and sucked his bottom lip into his mouth, making a sound of frustration before rubbing his eyes. He barely looked p when Ronan entered his room after knocking on the door.

"Hey Ronan," he greeted his father.

"Hey Little Man," Ronan replied. His hands were in his jeans pockets. "What are you doing?" He then held up his hand. "Actually, don't tell me, I don't think I'll be able to understand it." He laughed a little as Sydney smiled. Ronan stared to say something else, but then stopped and looked to the side. His eyebrows twitched as he picked something up. He studied it in his hand before turning it towards Sydney. "What's this?"

Sydney briefly looked up. "Cigarettes," he replied.

"I _know _that," Ronan said.

"So why'd you ask?" Sydney quipped, still looking at the computer screen.

"Haha." Ronan walked over to the computer chair and grabbed the back of it, turning it around so Sydney was facing him. "Why do you have them?" He asked, studying him carefully. Sydney rolled his eyes before looking back at Ronan.

"I'm studying the carcinogen content in cigarettes and then taking that information to figure out what age is the one that's most affected in the future as well as trying to figure out who would be more susceptible to lung cancer and who would be more susceptible to dying form said lung cancer and at what age," Sydney explained, crossing his arms over his chest. He looked at his dual computer screen. "I'm working on it with Professor Gentle at the University of Queensland on it."

Ronan looked impressed. "And here I was wondering if one of the others made you mad about something," he joked. Sydney shrugged. "Speaking of the others…have you told them about what you've been feeling lately?"

Sydney shook his head.

"You know that you have to tell them eventually, it'll help if you tell them now," Ronan said gently.

"I know." Sydney reached out and absentmindedly stared to push his computer mouse back and forth. "But I don't want them to be mad at me and I know that they're going to be mad at me about this."

"You don't know that for sure, Smurf," Ronan said gently. He reached out and ruffled Sydney's long hair, making it fall even further into his eyes. "If you put it off any longer, it's just going to get worse." Before Sydney could move, Ronan grabbed him into his arm and lifted him over his shoulder, upside down. He started to tickle Sydney's stomach. "You don't want to have them find out on their own do you?" He tickled faster as Sydney shrieked with laughter. "Huh? Do ya?"

"No!" Sydney finally managed to say. He rapidly kicked his legs back and forth, trying to thrash out of Ronan's grasp. "No! Ok, ok, please put me down!" Ronan gently laid Sydney on the floor. "That's really not fair," he said, trying to catch his breath.

"Too bad." Ronan grabbed onto Sydney's foot and dragged him across the hardwood floor out of his room and into the landing in the hallway. "Hey, guys, we need to have a little meeting!" He called before lifting Sydney onto his feet and lightly patting him on the butt.

Sydney sighed and went downstairs to the living room. Riley, Rhuben, and Noah were already there, watching something on the National Geographic channel, and he could hear Patrick rummaging around in the kitchen. Sydney twisted his hands together, waiting for Patrick to come out and settle on the couch beside Riley, a large sandwich in his hands.

"What's going on, Syd?" He asked around a large bite.

"Um, well," Sydney tried to stall for time. But he couldn't come up with anything.

He just thought about how they were going to react to what he had to say. Would they be mad? Would they be sad? Would they be supportive? What was going to happen to their future at that moment? He was nearly having a mental breakdown because of the way that he had felt for the past couple of weeks. He was somewhat surprised that his brothers and sisters hadn't noticed that he didn't say much at the meeting with Gustavo about their music. But he didn't put it past them, they probably did notice that he didn't say anything but didn't want to push him on it. Part of him was glad that he was the youngest for that reason, they didn't push him to talk until he felt like it, but on the other hand, being the youngest, he was the one that had to be the most watched out for and the one that was left out of a lot of things.

Now he just wished that he wasn't going to throw everything away.

"Syd, what's wrong?" Riley prompted.

Sydney made a whining sound and then turned to look at Ronan. He was standing behind him, his arms crossed over his chest, his green eyes looking at him patiently. When he caught Sydney's gaze, Ronan nodded, encouraging him to go ahead with his news. Sydney let out a heavy sigh as he turned back to look at his brothers and sisters.

"I'm…thinking of…" Sydney nervously ran his hands over each other. "Leaving the band."

* * *

**A/N: **So this chapter shows, specifically, the things that the BTR boys are going through and it directly affects everyone else's plots as well. (And by everyone else, I mean, DE, Dak, WayneWayne, Camille, Jo, Stephanie, Ronan, Mrs. Knight, Gustavo, and Kelly). A couple of the storylines coincide with each other, just so you know. Also, Kendall's father isn't a bad guy in this fic, so the letter isn't from him. At this point, Kevin isn't going to show up, but he might in the future. As the story goes on, I'll have the chapter split up into small parts with multiple characters and focus a bit more on one than the other. This one was Kendall, next is James, then Logan, then Carlos.

Also, soon (probably during or after _Wait For Me_) I have a story called _Let Me In _coming up. This story is all about Ronan and DE, I got the idea after I realized that everytime I want to show more of their homelife, it doesn't get shown a lot, so I thought I would do a story all about them. It's gonna be under the Misc. TV shows section because it ties in with our BTR stories and if any of the BTR characters show up it'll be mentioned in conversation, over the phone, through text, or they appear once or twice, but the whole story is based on our OCs.

I hope you guys liked the chapter.

Cheers,

-Riles


	4. Start Spreading The News

**.:Chapter Three –Start Spreading The News :.**

* * *

James would never say that he was, specifically speaking, a narcissist. He wouldn't ever call himself a vain person either. Yes, he cared about his looks, and yes, he wanted things to go well for him, but that didn't mean he was any of those other things. He would always do something for other people if he could, and he would never desert a fan when they needed his help. So why was it that people only seemed to focus on how he would hold a bit more attention the way that he looked? He was able to do that if he wanted, he was part of a boyband and the media cared too much about how everyone looked anyway.

James let out a grunt as he dropped his dumbbells back onto the rack. He grabbed his towel from the floor and draped it over a shoulder as he turned away from the mirror. _So I just get caught up in it every now and then. They're not the ones that have a mother that's a makeup mogul and a father that's permanently stuck in a midlife crisis. _James had to smile to himself as he pulled his hat off of his head to swipe a hand through his hair. He had spent so much time emulating his father, not realizing that the way he lived was pretty toxic to him when he was a kid. Now it seemed that it was coming back to bite him in the ass the bigger they got and the more stress was put on him.

"Ok, what's next?"

James raised his arms up and started to twist back and forth, stretching his side muscles. Carlos tilted his head back and squirted a long line of water into his mouth. James sighed as he watched Carlos recap his water bottle and hold the bottle in his hand, crossing his arms tightly over his chest. His lower jaw was sticking out and he was border line glaring at the floor. James had never seen him look that upset before, not since Sparky had died, but this was even worse. At different moments, he looked like he was going to start crying.

James leaned over and started to roll his upper half in a circle, stretching his waist. He was mildly surprised when Carlos had asked to go with him to the gym that day, he hadn't ever asked to go before – which was only because they already had the workouts that they had to do to stay in shape, but James usually went back and did another workout in the later afternoon or at night, just because he wanted to – but when he saw the look on Carlos's face and got a glimpse of something was wrong with Carlos and he wanted to blow off some steam, he went ahead and allowed him to come along.

"Just running on the treadmill," James said. He grabbed his own water bottle and gestured with it towards the machines. "The routine was easy today because it's the weekend and because we're going to have to start working on the new choreography soon." He tried to amp up Carlos's enthusiasm by grinning and rubbing his hands together. "And then we can show Gustavo and Kelly the song that we had come up with while we were on the tour. They're really going to like it."

"I guess," Carlos mumbled.

James frowned lightly as he started to walk behind Carlos, over to the treadmills. The Jennifers were in the corner, using the elliptical, but going as slowly as possible so that they wouldn't break a sweat. James lifted his head in a nod and gave a flirty wave as he passed by them, causing them to smile and wave back, but they didn't dare go near him. When he started to go out with Jo, she was quick to let the girls at the PalmWoods know that James was taken, but it was still his personality to flirt a little bit. Carlos barely noticed them as he got up onto his treadmill and started it up at a walking speed.

James got on his and started it up. He placed his towel on one of the hand rests and his water bottle in the holder before turning to look at Carlos. "Ok, dude, what's up?" He narrowed his eyes at his shorter friend. "You've been in this funk every since you went to go meet with Mr. King." Carlos shrugged. "Did he ever reschedule wanting to talk to you after the meeting came up?"

"No." Carlos kept his gaze away from James, upping the speed on his treadmill so that he was going at a fast walk. "He hasn't said anything about wanting to reschedule yet. Not that it really matters; we're going to be so busy with the band and everything soon, anyway."

"Well, yeah," James agreed. "But that doesn't mean that-"He raised an eyebrow as Carlos continued to amp up the speed on his treadmill until he was almost at a sprint. James's eyes widened as he watched Carlos run. Out of all of them, Carlos was the one that didn't like to run. He preferred to lift weights when they had to, but he absolutely refused to work on the treadmill whenever they needed to, opting to use the bike, the Stairmaster, or the elliptical. So now that he was burning rubber, James knew that something was up for sure. "Carlos, we're supposed to be walking for a cool down."

"Ok!" Carlos reached out and pressed his finger against the down button for speed. He was breathing heavily, sweat pouring down his face. James waited for him to catch his breath. Carlos looked at him. "Mr. King and I did meet up. He wanted to tell me that he thought that me and Steph were getting too into each other."

"I can see his concern." James shrugged. "I've heard that speech a lot. You're too into each other, you're spending too much time together." He grinned. "Though their complaint was usually that we were spending too much time making out-"

"Did they ask for you two to break up?" Carlos asked glumly. James made a face that accurately expressed his shock and Carlos nodded. "Yeah, Mr. King said that we were getting too serious, she is starting to take some classes at a nearby college along with working on her films and he doesn't want her to get too distracted." He scratched his neck. "We can still hang out and everything, but we can't date or…basically just hang out by ourselves." He reached out and slammed his fist on the treadmill. "God! It just fucking sucks! How could he do that?"

James had never seen Carlos so emotional before. He looked like he wanted to do….anything to get Stephanie back. Even kill someone. Everyone knew that the two of them were in love, hell; they all thought that the two of them were going to be announcing their engagement at some points. Even the fans loved the two of them together. They hardly fought and were always able to compromise on something that they disagreed with. But, they didn't spend so much time together that they got sick of each other.

It was the kind of relationship that everyone wanted.

"Carlos, I'm sorry." James honestly was sorry about the news. "I don't know if there's anything that I can say to-"

"I don't want to talk about it." Carlos turned off the treadmill and grabbed his stuff, walking out of the gym. James sighed as he watched him leave, turning back to the mirror that was in front of him. He wasn't sure what to do at that point, breaking up was hard, but for Carlos, it could be devastating since Stephanie was his first girlfriend.

_I wonder what would have happened if we never came out here and he never met Steph. But then again, if we didn't come out here, we wouldn't have this opportunity now. Thanks to Kendall…_James knew that all of the credit for Big Time Rush went to Kendall, for being the one that Gustavo wanted to bring out to LA in the first place. Kendall only agreed to it if the other guys had gone along with him, but what would have happened if they never went out there? James was sure that he would have found a way to get out to LA on his own and branch into stardom that way, but it would have saved him from a lot of humiliation and disappointment. How many times could he hear that he wasn't the one that Gustavo wanted? That he wasn't the one that was really good? That he wasn't the one that people would first think of when it came to Big Time Rush. It was always Kendall.

That was partially the reason that he wanted to try going solo. People didn't listen to him when he said it because they took it as a joke, and at the beginning he _was _joking. But boybands were staring to become so common, especially with the 'British Invasion' that was going on. But he really wanted to see how well he could do on his own, outside of Big Time Rush, to see if someone would actually take the time to see that being out there was something that he _lived_ for, something that he would work hard for and prove that he wanted, not something that he just got dragged into, even though it was a good opportunity.

_But that's what the planning for the future is for, James. _James looked at himself in the mirror, looking at the grim line that was on his face. _You just have to get people to take you seriously…and to talk to the guys about it…but they'll be supportive…right?_

* * *

"Wait a minute." WayneWayne Dolley held up his hand, briefly closing his eyes. "You're saying that Syd is leaving the band?"

"No…" Rhuben stressed out the word as she played with the straw in her smoothie.

The four of them were at Jamba Juice, having smoothies and just hanging out. At least once a week, or when Riley and Rhuben got tired of Big Time Rush, they got together to catch up. Or course, during those times they were spending as much time as they could ignoring the cameras that would, every now and then, shutter around them. Other times they would help WayneWayne take care of his nephew, Ziggy aka Zig, when his mother, WayneWayne's sister, would be working on a photo shoot for her's and her husband's company as they specialized in weddings and families. But this time the girls had brought the guys there to talk about what was going on with their band and consequently their family.

"I said he's _thinking_ about leaving the band." She sighed and leaned back in her chair, crossing her arms over her chest, her boyfriend, Dak's arm around her shoulders. She looked glum. "Not that makes any difference since no one knows for sure what he wants to do."

Dak's eyebrows lowered. "Well, did he say _why_ he wants to leave?" He scratched the back of his neck. "Because he's already spent so much time working on the band now, I don't see why he would have waited so long to make a decision."

"That was his point, actually, mate…" Riley pointed at him with her right index finger. She was tracing her dragon tattoo with her free hand. "He said that he realized that he had spent so much time on the band that he didn't get a chance to be a kid."

_"What?" Patrick frowned at his baby brother. Hurt and disappointment flashed through his eyes. Noah looked over at his twin brother and put an arm around his shoulders. "You want to leave the band?"_

_"Well…no," Sydney admitted, twisting the bottom of his shirt in his hands. "I don't want to, actually. But I'm thinking that it might be the best choice for me." He scanned his brothers' and sisters' faces. They were all good at hiding what they were feeling from other people, but not from each other. Sydney knew them so well that even though their faces were blank, he knew that they were upset. It didn't help that Ronan was just sitting in the corner, listening. "Ok, what I mean is, I've been in the band, since I was five. And in that time, I've done nothing but go back and forth from going to school to recording to going on tour to going back to school. It got so bad that we had to be taken out of school so we could continue with our band."_

_"That wasn't really our fault though," Noah reminded him._

_"But it's what got us to be a success," Sydney insisted. "And through that time, I missed out on a lot of being a kid and not having to deal with any responsibility at all. I mean, what other twelve year old do you know is a genius, is famous in Australia, __New Zealand, Japan, Europe, and most of South Africa, and helps produce his own music?"_

_"You have to admit that he had a point," Ronan finally spoke up. He stretched out his legs and crossed them at the ankle. "Even though all of you guys had plans of becoming a band at some point in your lives, it would be likely that you would have just started now, Robert took you all and threw you into the spotlight sooner than you expected. And Sydney had to carry the brunt of it since he's the youngest."_

_"Little Man, come here." Rhuben held out her hands and Sydney walked over to her, allowing himself to be pulled onto her lap. "We all knew that at some point in the future that our band was going to end, because we can't do it forever, even though we'd like it to." Sydney nodded. "What I want to know is if this has to do with us?" Sydney frowned, not quite understanding. "Was the way that we treated you what caused this? Cause, Ri and I did treat you like our son, but you're our baby brother and we wanted to make sure that you were ok."_

_"Oh, no I get that." Sydney patted her hand. He sighed, twisting his mouth to the side before looking at each of his siblings. "This has absolutely nothing to do with you guys."_

_"What do you mean, Syd?" Riley was frowning, her chin in her hand, but she was listening patiently. _

_"Like, I'm not mad at you for anything, and it wasn't anything you guys did to push me to want to do this. I'm glad that you helped try to protect me all of these years, it was comforting." He smiled a little, his dimples lightly appearing in his cheeks. "I just think it's time for me to do something else."_

"Now, since he hasn't made his choice yet and we need to start working on our next album, he's still going to be there when we do re-recording for _Enigma_," Riley continued. "And the first two singles that we're putting out for our new album, since we had already started working on them, but after that…we don't know. It might make us stop production on our new one until he makes a decision."

"Well how do you guys feel about it?" WayneWayne asked slowly. He looked back and forth from the girls, knowing that they were very good at hiding whatever they were really feeling. Sure, they shrugged now, but inside they could be trying to hold back tears. Though, now, they were better with showing people how they felt about things and not bottling it up, it was a hard habit to break.

"I mean, we respect his decision," Rhuben said. She lolled her head to the side. "It's his decision to make, and he's right about not being able to be a kid. But at the same time..." she licked her lips, stalling for time. She briefly closed her eyes. "Most people don't know this, but when we started our band, we all made an agreement saying that if one of us wants to stop the band, then we all have to. It's none of us of all of us."

"What if you want to go solo?" WayneWayne nodded at Dak's question, wondering the same thing.

To say that the five of them were close was an understatement; they stayed up for each other if one of them was out too late, they made sure that they always had breakfast and lunch together, they had so many inside jokes it wasn't funny, and then they were the ones that started the nicknames for all of their friends. It started with nicknames for each other and then migrated to everyone around them.

"Same thing," Riley said. "It has to be all or nothing. If someone wanted to go solo, then the rest of us would be their band or songwriters or producers or whatever, as long as we're still working together. It's on our contracts." Her eyes flashed. "Though, personally, I don't ever want to go solo, I have too much fun playing with other people. I'd rather quit music before _ever_ going solo." She scratched her forehead, hiding the quivering of her lower jaw at what she said next. "But he said that he wants us to continue without him if he decides to leave."

"Have you told the guys about it yet?"

"No."

The twin girls jumped as Dak and WayneWayne spit out the mouthful of smoothie that they had, onto the ground. Dak grabbed onto a napkin and dabbed at his mouth before turning to his girlfriend incredulously. WayneWayne continued to choke. "You haven't told them yet?" He asked. "Like, you haven't even told _Logan_?"

"No, boofhead," Rhuben repeated, shooting Dak a hard look. "We didn't want to tell them until Syd decided to."

"It's not like you guys would tell them anyway," Riley added. "You're not around them long enough to do it, mate."

"Not me," WayneWayne agreed. "I don't talk to any of them. I only really talk to Camille." He held up a finger. "Though, Kendall and I have really gotten along lately. Enough to be able to watch hockey games in peace."

"And chick flicks," Riley added under her breath. She smiled when WayneWayne elbowed her in the side.

"And I only really talk to Kendall when it has to do with setting up a double date or figuring out who is going to drive our sisters somewhere," Dak agreed. "So I wouldn't have said anything." He tightened his grip around Rhuben's shoulders. "Though I wouldn't anyway, since I know that you would probably kill me." He leaned over and gave her a kiss on the cheek. "And because that was probably the only time that I would be able to get away with that in public."

Riley turned to WayneWayne, her eyes flashing. "Does that make you even more aware that you're the only one out of everyone that's single?" She smirked at him.

He smirked back. "Only cause my ex just brought it up," he said, causing the other three to laugh. "No, I'm good, the only time it's a problem is when Camille and Logan are around." He paused. "Or when Camille is over and _only_ talks about Logan."

"Feeling bitter yet?" Riley asked.

"Oh, speaking of Logan…" Rhuben pulled out her phone and started to scroll through her pictures. "Did you guys see the pic that he sent?" She finally pulled up the one that he had sent to Camille.

Riley leaned over Rhuben's shoulder to look at it and let out a low whistle. "Get it, Logie," she said with a laugh. She leaned closer, her eyes narrowing a little. "Though he could lose a little bit of pudge..."

"Don't let Kendall hear you say that." Rhuben laughed as well, handing her phone over to WayneWayne, who looked at it, before handing it over to Dak. "Apparently he sent it to 'Mille to 'spice up' their relationship," she used air quotes around her words.

"So why did he sent it to _you_?" Dak asked. He had a slight edge to his tone, as he handed Rhuben's phone back to her, that wasn't lost on anyone.

His and Rhuben's relationship was only complicated in the fact that she had known Logan since she was eight and had a crush on him ever since. Dak, on the other hand, knew Rhuben since she was fourteen and had a crush on her ever since. He continuously asked her out for four years, and she turned him down each time before she started to go out with Logan, after Camille had kissed James. Then the two had broken up when Rhuben saw how upset Camille had gotten – she and Logan talked about getting back together, but then he went back to Camille, and she finally gave Dak a chance. But then Dak told Rhuben to go out on one more date with Logan, after seeing how close they still were, to see if there was any leftover feelings. Rhuben and Logan decided to stay friends and she and Dak started to go out again, and they had been together for a year and a half.

"Because he wanted my opinion," Rhuben said dismissively, putting her phone back into her pocket. She rested her arms on the table and gave a half smile. "Now, if it was James that had sent a picture, then you would have reason to be jealous about it." Riley laughed and nodded in agreement before the twin girls bumped fists. Dak and WayneWayne rolled their eyes, used to their girl friends comment on James's looks.

When Rhuben saw the frown still on Dak's face, she grabbed onto his chin and forced him to look at her. "Relax," she said sharply before giving him a kiss on the corner of his mouth, blushing, causing him to smile. "It's just a picture." She rolled her eyes, letting go of his chin.

"Correction," WayneWayne said. "_Now _I'm painfully aware that I'm single." He smiled.

Riley laughed.

* * *

"So they'll go on the morning show this weekend, and the week after that they have that radio spot…"

Mrs. Knight sighed, looking over a calendar that sat in front of her. She clicked her tongue as she tapped a pen against the paper, her hazel eyes moving back and forth. The calendar was slowly starting to fill up and they were only just starting to work on their third album. Once recording and touring came around, she knew that things were going to get even more hectic, especially when she had to look after Katie as well.

Being a momager was harder than she expected, but at least she didn't have Gustavo currently breathing down her neck. He was angry that she had missed their meeting over working on their new album and the new rules that they all had enforced for both bands, but she had been at the bank, making sure that the money that they got from the band was deposited into their accounts well. After explaining it to Gustavo and Kelly, Kelly calmed Gustavo down the best that she could and allowed Mrs. Knight time to figure out the shows and appearances that the guys were going to do in the next couple of months.

"I still have to figure out when they get to go see their families too." Mrs. Knight looked up as the door to the crib opened and Ronan walked inside. She sat up straight, giving him a bright smile as he walked over to her. He gave her a kiss before sitting down in the chair next to her. "Is something wrong?" She asked, noticing the weary look on his face.

"A lot," Ronan admitted. He scanned the table. "But I don't want to take you away from whatever you're doing," he said.

"Please." Mrs. Knight shook her head. "Anything is more entertaining than having to schedule these boys to the shows they _have_ to go to, the shows they want to go to, and whatever else it is that's asking for any of them individually."

"Just be glad you're not their producer at the same time." Ronan smiled. "And that you're only the mother to one of them."

Mrs. Knight laughed. As her laughter died down, she turned her chair so she faced him. "So what's going on with you?" She reached out and lightly grabbed onto her boyfriend's hand. "You seem bummed."

Ronan let out a weary sigh, rubbing his eyes. "Yeah, I'm bummed because Syd is thinking of leaving the band." Mrs. Knight's eyes widened. "I know. But he has a really good reason, he wants to be a kid and finish school and stuff…he just hasn't decided yet."

"So why do I get the feeling that that's not the only thing that's going on?" Mrs. Knight asked slowly. Ronan moved his mouth to the side. "Ronan, we've been working together since Big Time Rush started. You've helped me figure out how to be a parent and how to work in the music industry, you helped Gustavo give me the job as the guys's momager, you gave me my car to get around in." Ronan smiled. "So whatever it is that _you_ need help with, I'll help you."

Things had been a bit hard for them when they had started dating, firs they had their kids that they needed to think about, and then there was their own careers. Big Time Rush and the DarkElements were considered rivals in the music industry since both bands represented the two styles of music that were working their way back up the charts in the US. It was hard for them to find time to be together due to the work that they had to do, but they also had to think about their personal lives could bleed over into their work and vice-verca. Something that happened with Big Time Rush could easily affect Ronan though her. So far they didn't have to worry much about the media either, sure he had been on the Sexiest Men Alive list since he first grew to popularity as a producer, and sure people asked her how their relationship was going on ScuttleButter, but nothing too bad. He helped her get used to being mentioned in stories about him and she helped remind him when to split work and family.

"Fine," Ronan said shortly. "With the fact that Sydney may leave, my company may be in trouble. Like I've said before, with the fact that actual album sales have dropped as opposed to digital sales, it might get worse. I'm not saying that I'm blaming the kid for anything, because I respect his decision. But we don't know how the fans will react if he decides not to come back, and since they're the band that I work with the most, though I'm starting to sign more people like Steph, and a band back home named BlackStar, things may go badly. My kids bring my company the most money and if things doesn't go well…I could lose it."

Mrs. Knight gasped before covering a hand over her mouth. She never thought of that. Even with Big Time Rush, she didn't about it. The four boys were best friends, but things were going to fall at some point, either pop music or boy bands was going to go out, or someone would go solo. But she didn't think about how that would affect the fans, or the others, or even Gustavo's company at all. _It must be worse for Ronan though, his kids are his band. So he has to see it from a manager's point of view as well as from a music producer's and a father's point of view. Now I know how hard this is for him. _She gently rubbed his forearm.

"And then, of course, there's the fact that I need to get surgery on my leg, which'll put me out of work at the studio for a while," Ronan continued. "So I'd have to try working from home while they're at the studio, or have some of them go in and some stay home so they can help me or something."

Mrs. Knight slowly nodded. At this point, if they were starting to work on their new album, he couldn't afford too much time away from the studio. "What's the operation on? Your knee?" She glanced at the clothed part of his skin. He already had an operation on it two years before, after he hurt it while playing in a charity hockey game.

Ronan shook his head. "My Achilles tendon, it's been hurting for a while and I'm finally getting something done with it. I'll be on crutches for four weeks, then in a boot for four weeks after that, and slowly get back into walking and exercising." He managed a grin. "Though my arm muscles will be amazing."

Mrs. Knight slowly nodded. She ran her free hand through her hair before giving him a knowing look. "And you haven't told your kids any of this have you?" She shook her head, already knowing the answer. "Because you don't want them to worry. Ronan, they worry anytime one of their friends has a cold, I think things'll be worse if you don't tell them soon."

"I know," Ronan agreed. "But I still have some things I need to figure out first, especially with what's going on with Syd." He sat up straight, resting his hands in his lap. "But I don't want to worry about that now; I came over to see if you wanted to have dinner with me tonight?"

Mrs. Knight let out a breath as she looked down at the calendar. Scribbles were set all over the sides as well as in many boxes of the month and she still had a few more months to go through, as well as continuously try and find the boys to see what they wanted to do. Her head was already starting to hurt.

"That sounds really good, actually," she admitted. Ronan smiled and gave her a kiss. "It'll at least give me some time to breathe before I have to go into this craziness."

* * *

**A/N: **The first song and its inspiration will be in the next chapter. Also, the story really starts to pick up with this chapter, and I hope you guys liked it. Next chapter will show Jo, Camille, Stephanie, Katie, and Lizzie, since these first ones focused on BTR and DE. Can you guess what's gonna happen with some of the storylines yet? Again, this brings in some elements from the timeline for season 4, but not a lot, only a few. The last line of this chapter was important.

Also, I realized that with Blazing Phoenix potentially going out of business, I brought it up in the last story but did nothing with it, and now I have a plot for it in this story.

Cheers,

-Riles


	5. Picture This

**.:Chapter Four – Picture This:.**

* * *

"I wish that you guys would stop making such a big deal about this," Stephanie said.

She picked up a bowl of popcorn, stepping over the stretched out legs around her. She settled into the couch, placing the bowl on her lap, jumping when Riley and Rhuben's hands immediately flew into the bowl. She, Jo, Camille, Riley, and Rhuben were in her apartment, hanging out. Jo and Camille had insisted that they come over as soon as they heard the news from James, and even the twin girls were shocked about it. When they told their brothers, it made them momentarily forget what they were going through with their own band.

"Carlos and I broke up, yeah, but that doesn't mean that we can't still be friends and hang out every now and then."

"Steph, you can't be this calm about it," Jo said with a frown. She had her arms crossed her arms over her chest as well as her legs crossed at the knee. "You and Carlos are…or in this case may be, were, in love with each other. You guys never fought and you were great with compromising, you can't tell me that you're not upset."

Stephanie chuckled a little. "You should have seen me the two days after we had to break up; cried all the time, and didn't want to go anywhere." She turned and pointed at Camille. "That's why my Dad told you that I was sick when you came by to go to the movies." She shrugged. "So I was depressed for a bit, so what?"

"_So what_ was the sudden shift?" Rhuben raised an eyebrow. "You just said it yourself, sheila, you were depressed, how'd you get over that so quickly? You've been dating for three years straight."

"I just realized that even though we can't date, it doesn't mean that we can't still be friends," Stephanie said. "There's nothing wrong with that, right?" She then held her hands palms out. "Ok, I also figured that it would help if I focused on more stuff to take my mind off of it. So I've been working more with my camera shots and on choreography and stuff."

"Then that's good for us," Riley said with an enthusiastic thumbs up. Stephanie laughed at her comment, causing the other girls to laugh as well. "Well, if things are ok with you, then I _guess_ we don't have to talk about it anymore."

"Which is a bummer because I was hoping that we could get some more popcorn out of it," Rhuben commented, looking into the now empty bowl. Jo turned and gave Rhuben a look with a raised eyebrow and a knowing half smile. Rhuben smirked back. It was a mistake if you ever got between one of the Jacksons and popcorn and that mistake was only made once by Katie. It was as bad as the guys on Fish Stick Friday.

"Wow, you guys have the best metabolism," Camille said, taking the bowl from Stephanie's hands and looking into it with disbelief. "I'm so jealous."

"Why are you jealous?" Stephanie gave a short laugh. She tilted her head, giving Camille a sly smile. "We're not the ones with the boyfriend that sends them shirtless pics."

"Who needs a pic when you can see it every time you're doing a fitting?" Riley asked.

"Or working on choreography," Rhuben added.

"Well, not everyone has a job that lets you able to openly oogle the guys anytime we want," Camille said.

"Hang on a tick." Riley held up a hand. "I don't oogle." She paused before smirking. "I stare intently there's a difference." Jo laughed and gave her a high-five.

Camille stuck her nose in the air before shaking her head, a smile on her face. "It was a pleasant surprise, I mean, who would have thought that Logan Mitchell would send someone a pic like that." She pulled out her phone and started to scroll through the pictures to find it again before passing her phone to Jo and Stephanie. "I feel like my response was really lame, though," she said. "I mean, he's got girls throwing themselves at him day after day and I'm not sure how to keep our relationship interesting."

"You don't have a problem with keeping your relationship interesting," Jo said, giving Camille a pointed look. "Trust me; I've _heard_ how interesting your guys' relationship can be." Camille blushed. "But if you're so worried about how to respond to the picture that he sent you, why don't you just send one back?"

"I send him pictures all the time," Camille replied. "I mean, if you don't count all of the pictures I put up on Instagram. He just takes those and saves them to his computer as well as comment on each and every one." She started to twirl her fingers together.

Every time their friends would make a joke about how they would spend too much time together making out rather than doing anything else, she could take it and laugh along, but then there were times where she wondered if there was a bit of truth in their statements. She _could _admit that at first she was only physically attracted to him and wished that he would just ask her out. But the more time they spent together the more she really got to know him and connect with him on an emotional and mental level. But the insecurity was always there, especially since he was her first boyfriend.

"Again, I'm suggesting, send him a picture, too," Jo said. Her eyes flashed as she raised her eyebrows. "If you want to make things more interesting, send him a pic back in the exact same style."

"Do you think that's a good idea?" Rhuben was frowning in concern. "I mean, what you guys do in your private lives if your business…" she bobbed her head back and forth. "For the most part." Her comment caused Camille to blush even harder. "But there are always consequences for doing this sort of thing."

"It's just taking a picture," Jo reassured her. "As long as it's only to Logan things will be fine. Right?" She looked at Stephanie and Riley. Riley held up a hand, while shaking her head, non-verbally saying 'leave-me-out-of-this' and Stephanie just shrugged before speaking up.

"It's not something that I would do," she said honestly. "But if you want to do it, then go ahead."

"Ok then!" Camille got to her feet, taking her phone back from Jo. She started to walk into Stephanie's room for privacy, prompting the other girls to follow her. Camille placed her phone onto Stephanie's bed and grabbed onto Stephanie's full-length mirror and started to drag it across the carpet. "I need to have some good light.

Jo walked over to the window in Stephanie's room and pulled the curtains open. Riley, Rhuben, and Stephanie climbed onto Stephanie's bed, waiting for Camille to take her picture. Rhuben pulled up a video on her phone, explaining that it had some dance moves that she was thinking of incorporating into their new choreography. Stephanie rested her elbows on her knees as she leaned into Rhuben's side to look at the video, spinning a ring around her finger.

"Hey, after this, do you guys want to go to Bowla Bowla?" Jo turned from the window and mimed throwing a bowling ball. "I bet I can get that spare this time."

"And get the attention of that guy behind the counter that always give you a discount on your shoes," Rhuben added, raising and lowering her eyebrows. "Ow!" She laughed as Jo leaned over and gently slapped her on the back of the head.

"Anyway, I can't." Riley shook her head. "Going to play laser tag with Carlos." She motioned over to Stephanie. "That was before I found out about you guys." Stephanie just shrugged, continuing to look at the video that Rhuben was showing her. Rhuben's eyebrows twitched as she looked at Stephanie, another frown appearing on her face.

"How do you do that anyway?" Jo leaned against the window sill, crossing her arms over her chest. "You guys are always able to hang out with so many people and not make anyone feel left out."

"It's because we divide our time for everyone," Rhuben explained modestly. "And we're good at time management." She gave a wicked smile. "Plus, we know that at some point, someone's bound to be doing something more entertaining that we could come up with."

"Doubt it," Stephanie said.

"For example, if I spent all of my free time with those boofheads, it'd drive me nuts." Riley's upper lip curled. "That's why during the week we have times where we hang out with you guys, Katie and Lizzie, and Dak and WayneWayne along with the boys. And then the weekend is really free game for us all to hang out;"

"In the easiest way to explain it, if we didn't divide our time along everyone, then I'm sure one of us would be put in jail for having murdered the guys for doing something stupid," Rhuben added. "But, of course, this is when we're not in the studio working on our new album…" she grimaced. "And figuring out what we're doing now that Riles and I are the center focus of the band."

"You're the _co-leaders_ of your band, Rhu, it makes sense," Stephanie said, shaking her head. "I know you two don't like a lot of attention, but this is getting ridiculous!"

"Hey!"

"Ok! I'm ready!" Jo, Stephanie, Riley, and Rhuben turned to Camille to see her standing in front of the mirror, her hair volumized by running a hairbrush through her hair a couple of times, her shirt off so that she was standing in her skinny jeans and bra, and some glitter on her shoulders having used some of Stephanie's body glitter on it. She held her arms up, as if she had jumped out of a cake, before slapping them to her sides, grinning with excitement. "Who wants to take the picture for me?"

"Uh, here's a nutty idea…" Riley pressed a finger to her forehead in a 'duh' way. "Why don't _you_ just take the picture?"

"Because I want to be sure that I get my yoga abs in the pic," Camille said. She slapped her stomach for emphasis before throwing her phone at Riley. "Besides, you owe me for helping you guys do yoga ever other morning."

"Why do I have the feeling that something bad is going to happen?" Rhuben asked.

"Because it's the same feeling we get whenever we go into Ronan's office without asking him first," Riley said as she lifted the camera phone as Camille posed for her. "He always knows and something bad always happens." She took the picture and gave the phone back to Camille.

The smile on her face was so big it seemed to be carved in cement. She quickly sent the picture to Logan and waited for his response.

**Boyfriend: **_;)_

"The only 'bad' thing that happens is that you guys get dessert taken away," Jo scoffed.

"And that's not 'bad' to you?" The twins harmonized.

All of a sudden, Rhuben's phone rang. She pulled it out of her pocket and looked at the ID before answering the phone. She jerked her head away from the phone and Gustavo's voice blasted through the speakers. All of the girls could hear Gustavo demanding that she and Riley get down to the studio that moment as the guys had something that they wanted to show them.

There was one thing that could be said about Gustavo Rocque, no matter how good of a mood he was in or how much progress Big Time Rush was making with their music and popularity, he would always be sure that people knew that he meant business.

* * *

"So what's up?" Noah crossed his ankles, making sure that his rollerblades didn't hit the CD rack that was sitting across from him. He scratched the back of his neck as he looked around the sitting area of the studio that they were sitting in. Gustavo and Kelly were at the control panel and Kendall, Logan, Carlos, and James were sitting on the floor, notebooks and pencils in their hands. "We were about to go down Dead Man's Hill when Gustavo called and demanded that we get over here."

"And it was almost my turn to go," Sydney pouted, crossing his arms to his chest.

"Dead Man's Hill?" Kelly's eyes lit up. "I always wanted to go down that hill! Is it as cool as they say?"

"How would we know?" Patrick threw his hands into the air. "We had to come here!" He mimicked Sydney's posture by crossing his arms over his chest and pouting. He let out a heavy sigh, dropping his arms. "Though I'm sure that it was a good reason for Gustavo to do personal calls to all of our cells."

"Uh, my calls are _always_ important!" Gustavo snapped.

"Right, so that would explain the one time that you called just so we could remind you where you had put your shoes…" Riley tapped her chin with her finger. "And they were under your desk! You have taken them off while you were on a conference call."

"They were my leather ones, that are important," Gustavo insisted. Rhuben snorted. "Anyway, I didn't want to call you here, the dogs did. We were working on their song and they wanted you here so they could, I don't know, surprise you or something."

"Well, that was really helpful," Carlos said. He noticed Gustavo's glare sent his way and ducked behind James's shoulder.

"Ok, well, we have a new song that we wanted you guys to hear," Logan said, tapping his pencil against his notebook. He continued to look at his phone, which was sitting on the ground next to him. "We've had it done for a while and we're thinking of having it put on the next album."

"But before we do that, we wanted to tell you guys how we got the idea for the song," James added. "We thought back to things that made our first album popular and it was the positive things that we could help people relate to. Whether it was friendships or having fun."

"And this is something that has more of the same theme to it," Kendall said. "So, yeah, we hope you like it." He nodded over at Kelly and she pressed a button on the control panel, starting the song.

Carlos bobbed along with the music before he started to sing, the pace of the music changing so that it would go along with the verse. "Picture this, first kiss beneath the moonlight. Slow dance, cover band playing all night. Meant to be, cool breeze feeling so right, picture this, picture this. Picture this, holding hands on the boardwalk. Perfect date, out late, making small talk. Arcade, playing games you can win it all, picture this, picture this."

James came in next. "When you look into your future, who's there standing with you when you close your eyes?" He smiled as he, Logan, Carlos, and Kendall started to clap along to the beat of the song. The Jacksons nodded along to the song, they were never ones to outright show what they felt about a song when they first heard it, rather waiting until the song was completely finished until they showed what they thought.

"Do you see what I see? You and me, it's like a movie scene. That's the way you know it should be; the two of us together, girl can you picture this." The four of them sang in unison before Logan took up the next few lines; James, Kendall, and Carlos lowering their voices as they sang the background vocals of the song.

"Girl can you picture this. The two of us together. Girl can you picture this. Girl can you picture this?" The song cut out for a second before coming back in, and Logan starting to sing again. "Top down, right around all day long." Logan sang, not being able to help but smile. "Watching you rockin' out to your favorite song." Around him, Carlos, Kendall, and James started to head bang along with the lyrics. "Fall asleep on the beach with our shades on. Picture this, picture this."

"When you look into your future, who's there standing with you when you close your eyes?"

"Do you see what I see? You and me; it's like a movie scene. That's the way you know it should be; the two of us together, girl can you picture this. Girl can you picture this. The two of us together. Girl can you picture this. Girl can you picture this."

The four boys sang through the bridge and the chorus of the song one more time as it go to the end of the song. When Kelly turned off the music, he, Kelly, and the guys turned to the Jacksons with expectant looks on their faces. Sydney was the first one to speak.

"I really like it," he said honestly. "The fact that you're going back to the way your first CD was, I thought was a big risk, but I think that you did a good job with it."

"A really good blend of the upbeat sounds you usually have and the lyrics are really great, too," Noah added.

"Glad you think so!" Carlos said, clasping his hands together in excitement. It was the most energetic any of them had seen him since he had that meeting with Mr. King. "Cause it's about you guys!" He waited for a reaction of excitement or smiles or something else that he would be able to see. But when he got nothing but confused looks, he visibly deflated. "I was hoping for something a little more than that."

"How is that song about all of us?" Patrick asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Well, the lyrics explain different things that we do with you guys, going to the beach, going out on semi road trips, listening to music, just hanging out," James explained. "Stuff like that." Patrick still looked confused.

"Oh!" Kendall held his hands up before anyone could freak out. "And we had to use 'girl' in there to be reminiscent of all of our songs. In that case it'd be more of a song for Riles and Rhubes, but it is about you guys."

"Oh good…" Rhuben placed a hand on her chest. "You had me scared there that you all were trying to tell our brothers something." She mimed wiping sweat off of her forehead. "That's a load off my mind."

"Not that I'm knocking the fact that you guys wrote a song about us, because that's ace," Riley said slowly, albeit with a smile. "But _why_ did you guys decide to do a song about us? I mean, you could have done it about anything you wanted."

"Because we wanted you guys to know how we felt about you," Logan said. "Not that the world doesn't already know that we're best friends, but it's just so that we all remember it. You've helped us so much over these years and we wanted to find a good way to thank you." He cracked his knuckles. "Technically speaking with our contracts, we don't know what's gonna happen in the future, but we know that you guys are going to be our friends for forever, so we figured that we'd do a song about it."

"But we first wrote it back when we were on the tour, a bit after your guys' announcement," Kendall added.

Sydney's lips twitched in worry. He wiped his hands off on the legs of his shorts and moved his feet back and forth, letting the rollerblades move over the carpet. He ignored Gustavo's bark of having to take off his rollerblades or get out. This was going to be the hardest thing he ever had to tell them, besides from when he first revealed to them that he was a genius (which was harder for them than for him, he thoroughly enjoyed it).

"Uh, well, then there's something that I need to tell you guys," Sydney said, rubbing the back of his neck.

And as their youngest friend told them about what he had been feeling lately, whether or not he was going to leave his band, it just made the BTR guys wonder; would thinking of their plans for the future really be a bad thing?

* * *

**A/N: **Wow, I hadn't had a girl bonding moment in a while and I really liked it here. And this isn't all that happens for Steph's side of hers and Carlos's break up. So if anyone was confused, it was everyone wondering why Carlos was the one that was taking things hard while Stephanie was calm about it. Ok, so chapters that actually show the guys doing the songs are going to be shorter than others because that's the point of the chapter. That being said, Lizzie and Katie will be in the next chapter.

Also, as stated in this chapter, DE are very good (and proud of) making sure that they don't leave out their friends by spending equal amount of time with each of them. So this story will have more moments of friendships that I don't usually show. (And I typically don't get to show it because people usually want to see more of the pairings than anything else, though I understand that, so I'm excited to be working on other friendships).

I know I haven't shown much romance in this story yet, and it'll start in the next chapter with some romance with most of the pairings. I just wanted to establish the problems each boy has (foreshadowing DE's) and get at least one song out of the way before the romance plays into their problems as well.

What'd you think of the inspiration for Picture This? ;)

Cheers,

-Riles


	6. Too Close For Comfort

**.:Chapter Five – Too Close For Comfort:.**

* * *

"Has anyone seen my lucky v-neck?" James asked, walking out of his room.

He placed his hands on his hips and looked around the apartment. Kendall, Logan, and Carlos ignored him as they continued to play their video game. He let out a patient sigh before walking in front of the TV and bending down to turn off the TV. He then turned back to his best friends, giving a patient sigh.

"I know that you guys are jealous of my looks and of my talent, but that doesn't mean that you have to take my lucky shirts." He pressed his palms together, pointing his fingertips at his friends, who looked stared back at him. "If you want to be as good as me, all you have to do is ask and I'll be _glad _to help you out."

"James," Carlos said as calmly as possible. "Get out of the way."

James held up his hands and walked out of the way of the TV and Logan quickly grabbed the remote, turning the TV back on. The sounds of buttons being smashed, bomb blasts, gun fire, and aliens screaming filled the apartment as the game started up again. James flopped down onto the couch next to the guys. He picked up a magazine that was sitting on the glass table. He flipped through a few pages before tossing it down again.

"Besides, Katie sold your lucky white, v-neck to a fan, remember," Kendall said, his eyes still glued to the TV. He twisted his controller back and forth, his tongues ticking out of the side of his mouth. He smiled when James let out a mini-scream. "I can't believe it took you that long to notice that it was gone."

"I can't believe it took him that long to notice that we need to get better locks for our doors," Logan added. Carlos laughed.

There was a double knock on the door that led to the swirly slide and Riley and Rhuben entered the apartment, throwing themselves down it. They crashed to the floor and quickly got to their feet, making their way over to the boys. Riley held a skateboard in her hand and Rhuben had rollerblades on her feet.

"Hey boys, what's up?" Riley greeted them. Rhuben veered off and disappeared down the hallway towards the bedrooms. She turned her attention towards the TV. "Never mind, now I understand why you didn't answer your phones." She gently rested her arms on Kendall's shoulders and gave him a kiss on the back of the head as he continued to play the video game before moving onto the other guys and giving them a hug as well.

"Hey Beautiful, what's up?" James replied as he sat up, flashing her a warm smile. "You look great today, as usual."

"At some point you're going to have to find some other way to compliment," Rhuben said as she rolled out of the hallway. She had a ring pop at the side of her mouth and was stuffing one in her pocket, using her other hand to toss Riley a different one. "Not that it's not wanted; but I'd like to hear something new every now and then, mate."

"If it helps, you look great too," James said.

"Thanks." Rhuben smirked.

"Could you open this?" Riley reached out a hand and handed the ring pop to James. He took it and quickly ripped the package open, giving the candy back to her.

Hearing the sound of crinkling wrapping, Logan paused the game and looked up to see the twin girls licking the ring shaped candy, not even trying to hide it. He gave a childish pout. "Hey, where'd you get that?" He demanded, grabbing the other guys' attention. "I thought I hid it!"

"Yeah, Logie-Bear, your underwear drawer isn't a great place to hide Ring Pops," Rhuben commented, she leaned over the back of the couch to give the guys a hug. "Especially form us." She then reached behind her back and pulled out a pair of boxer shorts that had prints of hearts and lip prints all over them. "By the way, when did you get these? I don't remember them being there last time."

Kendall, James, and Carlos laughed loudly as Logan turned red and grabbed the underwear from her hands. He balled them up and tossed them under the couch before turning back to the twin girls. "How many times have I told you to stop going through my things?"

Riley pretended to look surprised. "And you actually thought that would stop us?" She smirked as she used one hand to brush her hair from her face. "Clearly you don't know us at all." She removed her hands from Kendall's shoulders and slapped the back of the couch. "Anyway, when we called, we wanted to know if you guys wanted to come to Blazing Phoenix, we got some people there we want you to meet."

"Some of your famous celebrity friends from Australia?" James's eyes lit up. "Like Orianthi? Kylie Minogue? Cody Simpson? Keith Urban?" He snapped his fingers. "It's too bad that Heath Ledger had to die so soon."

"Uh, close," Rhuben said with a laugh. "But it's a surprise, so get your blades on and let's go!" She rolled around the front of the couch to face the guys, clapping her hands together. "Let's go, let's go, let's go!"

"I'll get them!" Riley offered. She dropped her skateboard and hurried from the room.

Mrs. Knight came out of the back rooms, a laundry basket under her arm. "Rhuben, could you please take off your blades while you're in the apartment?" Rhuben gave her a thumbs up before dropping onto the couch, squeezing in between Carlos and Logan, to prop her feet up on the glass table while she waited for her sister to get back. "So what're you guys up to today?"

"We're taking them to meet some friends at Blazing Phoenix," Riley explained as she came back to the room, arms laden down with four pairs of rollerblades. She shrugged. "And we figured that since it might be one of Syd's last days there, that they come see him at work, too." She scratched her forehead, after dropping the rollerblades to the ground for the guys to descend upon. "By the way, Handsome, what's this?" She pulled out a black book from behind her back.

Kendall peered up at his girlfriend, his mouth twitching at the corner. "Do you always go snooping through our rooms when you're over here?"

"Of course," Riley replied. She perched on the arm of the couch, already engrossed with the things that had been written on the pages. "It's one of the things that keep us entertained."

"But that's not fair," Carlos whined. "We don't get to go into your guys's rooms." He paused when he noticed that all eyes turned to him. He sucked in a sharp breath, his eyes squinting. "Did that sound as creepy as I think it did?"

"Yes." Riley opened the book and started to flip through it, loudly turning the pages with a flip of her hand. "Hey! Aubrey Stewart is in here!" She leaned towards a book. "What's up with the three crossed out stars?"

"That's James's book of girls," Carlos explained, pulling on his rollerblades. "He started it when we were back in Minnesota. It's all about the girls that he has dated, wants to date, could potentially date, and who he could _never_ get."

"You said that about Aubrey Stewart and I dated her," James smiled smugly.

"Yeah and then you ended up at your prom, dressed up as a girl and winning Prom Queen with Logie-Bear as king," Riley reminded him. She tilted her head to the side, bringing the book up to her face. "Hey, I'm in here!" She squinted. "What does four stars mean?"

"Ooh!" Rhuben leapt up and hurried to Riley's side. "Am I in here too?" She leaned over the book when her sister nodded.

"You _want _to be in there?" Logan asked, incredulously.

"It's flattering," the twins chorused.

"Has it ever occurred to you guys that you might be a _little_ too close?" Mrs. Knight asked with a light laugh.

She knew how close friends they were, the guys had been there for Riley and Rhuben since the very beginning of them working together. But as the years went on, they got closer, and closer, to the point that she didn't have to worry about Riley and Rhuben sleeping over at the apartment if it ever got too late for them to go home. But there had been many times that she wondered if they were too close, especially to the fact that they talked about anything and everything with generally no filter and the girls could treat the guys like their kids at times. It was entertaining to watch, and just reminded her of Katie and them sometimes, back when they were growing up in Minnesota. She didn't have many friends her age, because she was too busy hanging out with and talking about the boys.

"Trust me, Mama Knight, I think about that all the time," Riley remarked, lightly rolling her eyes. She tossed the black book over to James. "Usually when I wonder how much more I can take before I go completely crazy."

"You don't have much longer until you're there," Kendall quipped, pulling his rollerblades on. He smiled when Riley reached out and smacked him on the back of the head.

"That's what she said," Carlos and Rhuben said, laughing.

Mrs. Knight smiled and held a hand over her mouth, trying not to laugh out loud. Even though she found it humorous, she had to at least act like an adult sometimes. She sobered quickly and gave the two of them a sharp look and they immediately stopped laughing, giving her apologetic looks. She picked up the laundry basket again and tucked it under her arm before walking around the apartment to gather more items that needed to be washed.

"Alright, let's go to Blazing Phoenix." Kendall stood up and, noticing his mother's disapproving look down at their rollerblades, moved quickly to the front door of the apartment to leave. "Last one there gets to have their closet raided."

"Girls included," James piped up, quickly pulling the girls back behind him as he, Carlos, Logan, and Kendall rushed the door to get out. The girls rushed after them, shouting after the boys as they went.

Mrs. Knight smiled and laughed as she watched them leave.

* * *

"So where have you been?" Lizzie Zevon asked. She crushed the wrapping to a soft pretzel between her hands before tossing it into a trashcan that she was passing. She turned to look at Katie, who was walking beside her, finishing up her own pretzel. "You haven't been around lately."

"I've been around," Katie contradicted her. "You haven't, you've been dancing and everything, remember." She took another bite of her pretzel, her cheek bulging out from the dough, before continuing. "Besides, I've been busy trying to help the guys figure out what they're going to do with their future since they don't know what's gonna happen with Big Time Rush."

Lizzie nodded sympathetically. "Yeah, that's the problem with the entertainment business, one injury, or a deal gone wrong, or something like that, and your career could be cut short."

"Please don't say that." Katie rolled her eyes. "The guys are already freaking out about what's going on in their lives, even more so than usual, it's getting kind of annoying." Her face then softened and she looked down at her feet. "I'm kinda worried about Kendall, though," she admitted. "He didn't want me to tell anyone until he was sure that things were going to start, but he got offered to join a hockey team back home, but, a friend from back home has asked him to start work on their duo again." Lizzie shot her a confused look. "One of his friends back home, Dustin, and Kendal had started this little duo together; they would play the guitar and write their own songs, but Kendall kept it a secret because singing wasn't really his _thing_."

"Oh." Lizzie nodded. "Wait, so does that mean that he's going to go back to Minnesota?"

"Don't know," Katie replied. She sighed. "But like I said, he's not going to say anything until everything is, like, finalized and until he has to make an actual decision about it." She rolled her eyes again, now more annoyed than ever before. "Which I think is really stupid, especially if the other guys need to know what's going on so they can find out about their contracts."

"And that's why you're going to make it big in the industry." Katie smiled as Lizzie put her arm around her shoulders. "Because you actually know what's going on in it." The two girls laughed as they continued walking. "But, I'm glad that you decided to leave the boys for a while, that way you can get some more 'me' time."

Katie gave her best friend a confused look. "But I'm with you."

"I know." Lizzie grinned. "Me as in _me_, not you."

Katie laughed, shaking her head. She didn't think, at first, that she could be best friends with a girl like Lizzie. Yeah, she could admit that at first, she was a bit interested because she was Dak's little sister, but after hanging out with her a bit; they became friends quicker than she realized. They were easily opposites, but similar at the same time. And Lizzie's outgoing personality was so infectious sometimes that it was hard for Katie to not want to have her around. But that didn't mean that she didn't have moments where she felt…inadequate beside her, as she was a girl that was finding out what she wanted to do with her future, and Lizzie was the one that was getting jobs in music videos. But that didn't deter their friendship as Katie was always supportive of her.

Frankly, if she wasn't around the guys, or the Jacksons, she was sure she'd be bored beyond belief without Lizzie around.

"So what do you want to do now?" Katie asked, looking at her watch. "We've already been to Forever 21, Abercrombie, American Girl…" she shot Lizzie a semi-glare. "Which I'm never going into, again." Lizzie shrugged. "Banana republic, and Apple, and ate through basically every restaurant in here." She stopped, nearly falling to the ground, when Lizzie suddenly stopped walking, looking to the side.

"We haven't been to _all_ of them," she said in a sing-song voice, directing Katie towards the Cascade Café. Katie rolled her eyes. "C'mon."

Katie allowed herself to be dragged into the restaurant, suddenly feeling very self-conscious. She looked down at the outfit that she was wearing and gently tugged at it, slowing her walk as she followed Lizzie up to the counter. She noticed that Patrick was working up there and quickly pulled her hair back into a ponytail before draping it over her shoulders. She took a deep breath, moving up to the counter (though it was more like Lizzie pushed her to the counter) and waited as a girl a little bit older than her ordered her food from him.

"Is this all you want today, miss?" Patrick asked, punching numbers into the register in front of him. He looked up as the girl let out a giggle, twirling some of her hair around her finger.

"No." She shook her head before leaning against the counter. "I need your digits." Patrick's eyebrows raised and Katie turned to look at Lizzie, who had snorted. She knew that the both of them were thinking the same thing…who said _digits_ anymore, when it came to asking for a phone number. _Talk about desperate. _ "So we can go out sometime."

Patrick clicked his tongue before opening the drawer to the register. "Sorry, but I don't think that that's going to happen." He looked at the number on the register before turning back to her. Your total is $15.86, miss."

The girl let out a huff of annoyance before handing him a twenty dollar bill, waiting to get her change in reply. She turned to look at Katie and then glanced back at Patrick, before leaning in closer to Katie nudging her on the arm with her elbow. "What sort of girl do you think he goes for?" She asked.

Katie slowly gave a sweet smile. "Well, I can confidently say, that he wants a girl who is smart, charming, witty, funny, and ambitious." Patrick looked over at her and smiled at her and Lizzie. He then turned back to the girl and spoke up.

"Yep. She'd have to be 5'1, hazel eyes, brown hair, and a cheeky grin," he said.

The girl frowned, looking back and forth from Patrick to Katie, over and over again for a few seconds. Behind Katie, Lizzie giggled into her hand, enjoying the exchange. Katie continued to wait patiently as the girl pointed over at Katie. "It sounds like he just described _you_."

"That's because he _was_ describing me." Katie couldn't help but let a grin slide on her face as she watched the girls' eyes narrow slowly. "He's _my_ boyfriend." Her smiled widened as the girl turned on her heel and flounced off to the other side of the counter to wait for her food and leave the restaurant.

Patrick chuckled as he turned back to Katie and Lizzie. "You should visit me at work more often," he commented. "It'd keep things from getting boring around her at this time of day." He breathed out through his nose before looking at them. "What _are_ you doing here, anyway?" He then noticed the bags that Lizzie had piled on her arms, the handles cutting into her forearms. He held up his hands. "Never mind, I think I just figured it out."

Lizzie stuck her tongue out at Patrick.

"So, uh…" Katie pushed her hair behind her ear. "How much longer are you going to be here?" She asked. "Not…that I'm going to stay here waiting on you or anything, I'm just curious." She tried to be as nonchalant as possible and then hated herself for doing so. She had been dating him for a while now, and wasn't even sure why she still got nervous around him. _I must be the only one that has this problem, it's so ridiculous._

"No worries," Patrick looked at his watch. "Actually, my shift is over in five minutes, but then we have to go to the studio to get some work done."

"Really…" Lizzie reached out and started to draw a circle with her finger on the counter. "That sounds like fun. I mean, you guys always come out with some great music-"

Katie reached out and slapped a hand over Lizzie's mouth, effectively cutting her off. "Rules have changed, remember?" She reminded her. "We don't have to ask if we can stop by. So stop acting stupid." She rolled her eyes, pulling her hand away from Lizzie's mouth. "Sheesh, you can be as weird as the guys sometimes."

"And that's saying something," Noah said as he came up behind them, holding onto a black tub under his arm. Lizzie beamed and went to his side, giving him a kiss on the cheek, causing Noah to blush. He took a step away from her, adjusting the tub so that it was in both of his hands. "What are you doing here?"

"We were hanging out, but then found out that you guys were having studio work and Lizzie thought that she'd be coy and get Patrick to ask if we wanted to go, but we might as well go anyway, because I know that she's not going to stop until we can," Katie explained quickly. Lizzie elbowed her in the side and she elbowed her back. "Are you off soon?"

"Two minutes." Noah gave the peace sign. "Just hang on a tick." He walked away from the two girls and disappeared in a back door as Patrick left the counter to get changed back into his street clothes. Lizzie watched the twin boys go before turning back to Katie, looking like she wanted to say something.

Katie beat her to it. "Sometimes I wish that I liked Noah more, it's easier to talk to him without feeling like an idiot," she said.

Lizzie smiled. "We could always trade."

Katie's nose wrinkled. "That sounds really creepy, Lizz," she commented. "Besides, they're not disposable, they have feelings." Lizzie gave a playful smile and turned away, looking through her purse as they waited for the boys to get back. "Maybe not many, but they have feelings." She laughed, lightly brushing her hair behind her ears. "Is it normal to be nervous around your boyfriend, though?" She lowered her voice. Out of all of the girls that she was around, no one else had that problem; Kendall and Riley were fine, Dak and Rhuben were fine, James was never nervous around anyone so she figured that Jo's inviting personality made things easy for her, Logan and Camille were great, and Carlos and Stephanie may have that problem now, but before they were good. _Is there something wrong with me?_

"You're worrying over nothing, Katie," Lizzie reassured her. "You're into him, he's into you, you look happy, he looks happy." She reached out her hands and placed them on Katie's shoulders, gently shaking her.

Katie laughed, along herself to be shaken by Lizzie. Lizzie laughed as well, causing the two girls to break out into hysterics. They were still laughing when Patrick and Noah came back from behind the counter. They shared identical expressions of confusion, wondering why the girls were laughing, and waited for them to calm down before speaking.

"I think they finally cracked," Patrick commented. "I mean, I know LA is stressful, but you really only see behavior like this in an insane asylum." Noah smiled, although he smacked Patrick on the stomach.

"Hey, are you going back to the studio?" Katie instinctively turned at the accented voice and came face to face with a girl their age. Katie studied her as she walked over and stood next to Patrick and Noah, a smile on her face. She had long, wavy, brown hair and light brown eyes. Katie couldn't help but notice the giant hoop earrings that were in her ears, easily going along with (what Lizzie would call) her girlie-swag style. She noticed the silence and reached a hand out, shoving Patrick's shoulder. "Boy, you should have told me your friends was comin'. I would have been able to keep the secret easier!"

"It's not a secret, just a surprise," Noah replied calmly. He motioned over to the girl. "Guys, this is one of our backup dancers, Jewel. Jewel, this is Katie and Lizzie."

"Hi," Katie nodded, giving Jewel a firm handshake.

"Hi." Jewel smiled at her and Lizzie, shaking hands with them. "Nice to finally meet you, sheilas." She shoved her hands into the letterman jacket that she was wearing. "I'm guessing you're coming to the studio with us."

"We were going to surprise you guys," Patrick explained. "We haven't worked with our backup dancers here in the US, and we thought that now would be a really good time to start working with them." Something flashed over his face and he quickly cleared his throat. Katie was sure that he was thinking about how Syd wanted to leave the band.

_They probably had brought out one of their dancers with no use for her, especially if they each have a backup dancer to themselves._ Katie's eyes drifted back over to Jewel and she couldn't help but become self-conscious again. She looked so put together and even with the makeup that she was wearing; it didn't look like she was wearing any at all. Katie looked down at her chipped nail polish and made a mental note to ask someone to do them for her as soon as possible.

"Especially with the singles from each of our CDs that we're going to be putting out soon," Noah added.

"Right." Patrick nodded. "And the promotion for that would be even better if they were around. Syd's already at the studio, and Riles and Rhubes should be bringing the guys there right now."

"So, we should get going then." Lizzie moved forward and looped her arm through Noah's before looking over at Jewel as the group started to walk towards the mall's entrance. "You have to tell me where you got those jeans, I really like them."

"A store back in Aus called Dangerfield," Jewel explained, looking down at her bright purple jeans. "I'd offer them to you, but you might be too tall." She turned to Katie. "But you should totally try them; it'll go with that top that you're wearing."

Katie was about to thank her, but Patrick suddenly jumped in, looking hard at Jewel. "Hey, isn't that my jacket?" he demanded, grabbing onto the sleeve and forcing her to turn back and forth so he could see it. "That is mine!"

"Took you long enough to notice." Jewel smirked. "I stole it out of your closet the last time you left to come here." She pulled the jacket tighter around her, her smirk widening, causing Katie to wonder if she got the movement from Riley and Rhuben. "But it looks better on me, don't you think?"

Katie frowned.

* * *

**A/N: **Sorry, this was a shorter chapter than I anticipated, but you can see what's going on with Katie and Lizzie, as their plots were taken from the season 4 timeline, though slightly changed. Oh and the one-shot I was gonna do for BTR, Riley and Rhuben was shown (and had some things added) in the first part of this chapter, which is where the chapter title came from.

I'll have the next chapter up soon. The story picks up from here, especially now that you know what Kendall's drama is (though not all of it, of course).

I'm glad you guys are enjoying the story.

Cheers,

-Riles

**Fun Fact: **When we first started writing about the Jacksons (before we decided to make them a band) Sydney started out at two years old, then we bumped him up to five.


	7. I Really Miss You

**.:Chapter Six – I Really Miss You:.**

* * *

Ronan let out a weary sigh as he pulled up the calendar app on his counted how many days he had left until he was going to get his surgery. Only a little more than a week, and if that wasn't bad enough, he had gotten a call from his partner back in Australia, Alan McIntyre, saying that some of the band that they had been scouting there decided to go to a different record company for their work. Normally, Ronan wouldn't have a problem with it; it was always something that could be made up later with some big promotion from his own band. But he knew that he needed to have some sort of a back-up soon, to make sure things stayed afloat if he wasn't going to physically be in the studio for a while.

But, of course, his biggest problem was telling his kids that he was going to have the surgery and what that entailed for their work. It wasn't that he didn't want to tell them; it was that he didn't want them to worry. They were all worry-warts when it came to (and people in general), and they absolutely hated hospitals, so he knew that it wasn't going to be easy to even bring it up. Not like it wasn't his first surgery, he had gotten his third one on his knee two years before, when Big Time Rush was working on _Elevate _so it wasn't that big a deal.

But he wasn't out as long the last time.

"Yo!" Ronan looked up and put down his phone when Gustavo and Kelly walked into his office. Ronan greeted them with a smile and then looked at the two of them in confusion, illuminating his phone again. Gustavo and Kelly dropped down into chairs across from him as he looked at the date. "What's up?"

"It's a preposition," Ronan replied after a second. He lowered his phone. "What are you two doing here?" He looked at Gustavo pointedly. "I thought you said that you wouldn't step foot in this place again if you didn't need to."

"That was just a figure of speech," Gustavo said with a wave of his hand. "You know, heat of the moment in an argument and all that."

"Right," Ronan said slowly. He rested his cheek in his hand. "Now, what are you _really_ doing here?" He thought for a moment and then sat up straight. "Kacy told you everything, didn't she?" He asked in a low voice. He rolled his eyes when Gustavo and Kelly tried to stammer out a response. "Give me more credit than that, I'm not one of your _dogs_."

"I _told_ you to stop calling them that," Kelly snapped, elbowing Gustavo in the side. Gustavo held his hands up and Kelly turned back to her friend. "We're just worried," she said honestly. "You never really talk about your company or your problems in general-"

"So I'm a bit of a private person, so what?" Ronan tossed his phone back and forth between his hands. His gaze moved around the room, looking at all of the awards and records that he had won or achieved over the years. They landed on a picture of his kids when they first signed to Blazing Phoenix Records. A smile slid onto his face when he looked at the picture that had recently been taken. When his kids had renewed their contract at Blazing Phoenix, they had the idea to re-create the picture. The ten year difference between the two pictures always made him smile. "Can we talk about this later?"

"After we tell you what we need to say," Kelly said. She crossed her legs. "We know that having to work from home is going to be difficult for you all, so we thought that we'd help you by letting them work at Rocque Records if they ever needed it. And then Gustavo and I can-"

"Thanks, Kelly, but no thanks, we can deal with it on our own," Ronan interrupted. "Not that I'm not happy for the support, it's something that I really need. But we do things in a certain way around here and I can still do that from home if I need to." He looked at his watch. "Speaking of, I need to make sure that Syd is doing ok in his own right now." He got up from his chair and started to leave the room. Gustavo and Kelly walked along behind him.

_Great, now I have even more people on my back. _Ronan went to the dance studio and walked inside. Sydney was sitting in the middle of the floor, stretching his legs wide in a split as he did so. His and his siblings' backup dancers were sitting around him, stretching their arms and legs as well. When he spotted his father, he looked up and gave a small smile. _And it doesn't help that he doesn't know what he wants to do. _

"Hey Little Man, are the others on their way?" He asked.

"Mhm." Sydney nodded before shaking his hair out of his face. "So I was just hanging out." He motioned over to a girl about her age that was sitting beside him. "I told Ava that I wasn't sure what I was going to do, and she says that if it's possible, she'd like to stay, that way it'd be a different way to draw the eye."

"Yeah, well, we have some time before we actually have to think about that, alright," Ronan said, reaching out and mussing his youngest song's hair. He turned to the kids that were sitting around. "You all remember Gustavo and Kelly, right?"

"Yeah."

"Yep."

"Hey."

Gustavo and Kelly waved in return. Gustavo then turned back to Ronan. "Listen, McGuire, you-"

"So Syd I didn't tell you," Ronan broke in. "You guys are up for an award back in Australia. For potentially being the top, or the top five if you think about it, 20 under 20 in the entertainment industry." He ignored the looks that Gustavo and Kelly were sending his way as he abruptly changed the subject.

He didn't need their help.

He could do it all on his own.

* * *

Carlos jumped over a branch that was lying in the road before bending his knees and zooming faster down the hill. He passed Kendall and Rhuben, coming up behind Logan, who was at the front. He looked over his shoulder at James, Riley, Rhuben, and Kendall, before turning back to the front, a bright smile on his face. They weaved back and forth across the street as they raced towards Blazing Phoenix Records. It was the most fun that he had in a couple of days. They had just started working on the new album and it things were already starting to fall apart. He and Stephanie had to break up, Sydney was possibly leaving his family band, and the threat of their future was already making him anxious.

James was talking about going solo, Logan was thinking of being a doctor again, and…Kendall was acting funny. He knew that at some point of another, there was going to be a chance that they weren't going to be working together and that Big Time Rush could potentially end. But he didn't think it was going to come up so soon. He thought that, like the Backstreet Boys or Nsync, they would be a group for a long time, then break up, do their own thing, and potentially get back together. But he seemed to be the only one that was thinking that way.

"Ha ha! I win!" Logan cheered as he stopped outside of Blazing Phoenix Records. Carlos and the others came up behind him, almost crushing him into the door. "Now…" he brought his hand up to his chin and turned to Kendall, who looked annoyed. "To gloat or not to gloat, because I'm never really in this position a lot."

"Gee…" James reached out and grabbed Logan's arm. He pressed his hand into a fist and pressed Logan's muscle down to the bone and smirked. "I wonder why." He rolled his eyes. "And if it wasn't for Carlos's flailing arms, I wouldn't have lost." He turned to glare at the shorter boy who was grinning brightly.

"Yeah, well, let me just tell you, I'm going to have a lot of fun going through your drawers and closets," Riley said with a bright smile, slapping a hand against his chest. "Not that I don't already, but still, now I have permission." She and Rhuben laughed and led the way into the Blazing Phoenix Records and heading towards the dance studio. They opened the door to the room and went inside.

"Hey Syd," Rhuben greeted him.

"Hi!" Sydney got to his feet and walked over to his sister, giving her a hug. He then gave Riley a hug before turning to Kendall, Logan, Carlos, and James and giving them a high-five in greeting. "Hey guys, what's up?"

"Not much," Carlos replied with a warm smile. "They said that you guys had some people that you wanted us to meet." His eyes then moved behind Sydney and landed on Stephanie. He scratched the back of his neck before walking over to her. "Hey Steph, h-how's it going?" He asked, kneeling down next to her.

Stephanie pushed her hair out of her face and looked up at him. "I'm good, Carlos, how are you?" She asked, leaning forward to touch her toes. "You know, you should have been here about twenty minutes ago, Syd can really dance up a storm." She smiled over at the younger boy. "So how are things going with you guys and the new album and everything?"

"Not bad," Carlos replied. "We already got one song done and we're starting to work on some of our other stuff." He scratched the back of his neck. "You know, Steph, I really miss-"

"Carlos, do we really need to go into this right now?" Stephanie asked, lowering her voice. She noticed the hurt look on his face. "It's not that…it's…" she let out a sigh. "Carlos, you know that I still care about you a lot, but it's probably not a good idea to dwell on it so much."

Carlos's heart sank as he looked at his feet. He was trying really hard to be as positive as possible when it came to the fact that they had to break up. He tried to let himself be distracted by different things, like song writing, rollerblading, and hanging out with the guys. But he couldn't help but think about her every time they went to the PalmWoods, especially since her apartment wasn't far from him and because she was always hanging around with the girls, who always seemed to be at the PalmWoods Pool whenever the guys wanted to go. _It wouldn't surprise me if Jo and Camille planned it on purpose; they are really sneaky like that sometimes. _

"Carlos?"

Carlos blinked when he realized that Stephanie's hand was waving in his face. He shook his head and looked at her again, trying not to get lost in her eyes. "Sorry, what was that?" He asked.

"You might want to take off your rollerblades," Stephanie said with a gentle smile. "Hardwood floor and everything," she added before leaning forward and lowering her voice. "Because Gustavo's been glaring at you ever since you got here."

Carlos looked down at his feet before quickly whipping his head around and saw Gustavo, Ronan, and Kelly standing in the corner of the room. Gustavo was, indeed, glaring at him. Carlos quickly flopped down onto his butt and struggled to rip his rollerblades off of his feet. He let out a sigh of frustration when it didn't come off fast enough. Stephanie laughed and pushed Carlos's hands away.

"Here, let me," she grabbed onto his foot and undid the buckles before sliding the rollerblade off of his foot. She reached over and did the same with her other one. "There you go."

"Thanks Steph," Carlos said quietly.

"You're welcome." Stephanie smiled in reply.

Carlos looked up as the door opened and Patrick, Noah, Katie, Lizzie, and a teenage girl walked in behind them. Carlos pulled his shoes from over his shoulder that were laced together, and untied the laces before putting his feet into them. He greeted the group along with the others as they closed the door behind them.

"Oh good, now everyone's here," Patrick said, clasping his hands together. He then frowned, looking around the room. "Well, not everyone, where's Jo and Camille?"

"They couldn't make it," Stephanie replied. "Camille went out with her father for the day and the cast of New Town High had an appearance to make so, it's just me today." She stood up, crossing her arms over her chest. "But I, technically, didn't need to be here, but Syd asked if I would come by so he could get some work done."

Sydney nodded quietly.

"Whatever." Rhuben shrugged. She turned to Kendall, Logan, Carlos, James, Gustavo, Kelly, Katie, and Lizzie. "Anyway, we wanted you guys to meet our backup dancers." She looked over at Jewel. "Though it seems that you already met Jewel." She turned to the other three that were standing along with Sydney."That's Brodie, Rooster, and Ava. They haven't been around before, only because they had problems with their VISAs and stuff to get over here."

"And, Storm, who Stephanie is taking the place of, is still have problems which is why she's not here," Riley added. "And guys, this is Big Time Rush."

Carlos raised a hand and smiled at them, turning away from Stephanie. If he didn't put any distance between the two of them, he wouldn't know what he would do. It was hard enough not to let everyone see how much he was hurting, but it didn't seem like she was having any problems either. _Does she miss me at all? _Carlos stuck out his hand towards Brodie. "Hey, I'm Carlos."

"Brodie." He gave his hand a firm shake before shaking the other guys' hands as well. "We've heard a lot about you blokes."

"Hopefully good things!" Gustavo barked. "I know that their reputation can precede them, but trust me when I say that they're not as dumb as they look."

Carlos rolled his eyes although he laughed along with the others. He knew that Gustavo didn't really think that they were dumb. Sure, they got on his nerves, yeah, they managed to break a lot of stuff, and of course, they made things hard for him. But they had a good relationship with each other and knew that they wouldn't be where they were now without each other's help.

"Yes, they are," Sydney said innocently. He waved a hand. "No, really, they're actually really great."

"And this is Kendall's sister Katie, and her best friend, Lizzie," Patrick continued. "Though, you should already know Lizz from last summer." He looked over at the blonde girl and rolled his eyes when he noticed that she was giving a flirtatious smile.

"Yeah, kinda," Ava replied with a nod. "It's nice to see you again, anyway," she offered.

"They're here so we can get started working on some of the new music that we have for our upcoming album," Ronan explained. "Because my kids have thought about going in a different direction with their music, too. And we needed to get started as soon as possible, especially since they're trying to figure out which songs to use as singles off of the album they're re-mastering, as well as what demos to they're going to use for their new one." He rubbed his hands together.

"And because we thought that even its Friday, because you never really got to know them before, that we could all hang out together," Patrick added. "Everyone. Why don't we all go the Red Heart tonight." He turned to Big Time Rush. "That is, if you don't mind not doing tradition this time."

"Oh, no that's fine," James interrupted. "Who says 'no' to a trip to the Red Heat?" He grinned, rapidly raising and lowering his eyebrows. "The dark lights, the dancing, the girls looking at me-"

"Wow, you really weren't kidding when you said that he can be a little…intense," Rooster commented.

"You have no idea," Noah remarked. He turned to Sydney. "Hey, Syd, are you ready to go? You've been working all morning?" Carlos looked over at the younger boy and saw that he looked like a deer in headlights. After a second, Sydney then relaxed before looking over at Ronan. Carlos followed his gaze and Ronan looked back at his son with a calm and patient look. Carlos then turned back to look at Sydney before looking over at Kendall, Logan, and James.

They all had noticed it too.

"Oh, yeah, I'm ready to go," Sydney said. He then smiled and nodded. "I was just getting some work done, you know, just getting in shape for when we start our music videos and everything." He moved his gaze to his feet as she scratched the back of his head. "That's coming up fast, you know."

Carlos tried not to let out a weary sigh. He could feel the tension in the room. He knew that Riley, Rhuben, Patrick, and Noah refused to acknowledge the fact that Sydney was thinking of leaving the band. Instead, they talked as if he was still going to be there. If they were making any plans about him possibly leaving, they probably did it in private. _But we're supposed to be friends and help each other, why wouldn't they want to talk us about it? _Carlos then looked over at Stephanie out of the corner of his eye. _It's probably because it's too hard, I know that feeling well._

"So we'll let you guys get changed and then we can show you around LA," Riley said.

"You guys better make it fast," Jewel said with a snap of her fingers. "I'm ready to get my shopping on!"

Carlos laughed along with everyone else as they started to make their way out of the dance studio. Carlos looked back when he heard Stephanie asking Noah for help on a dance step she was having trouble with. Carlos closed the door to the studio behind him and turned back to look through the window. He couldn't help but notice the smile that was on Stephanie's face as Noah explained the move to her, before turning her attention to the mirror. Carlos glanced over at Lizzie to see if it was affecting her, but saw that she was talking animatedly to Jewel, probably about clothes. Katie was standing off to the side, a slight pout on her face, her arms crossed over her chest.

Carlos turned back to the window. _She doesn't smile at me like that anymore._

"Hey, 'Los," Logan said, coming up to Carlos's side. He glanced at the Latino boy before looking through the window and then back at Carlos again. "Hey, you-"

"Logan, I don't care what sort of picture that Camille sent you this time," Carlos interrupted him. He paused. "Though I have to admit it was kind of hot." He shook his head as he looked up and watched as Noah helped Stephanie through a dance move. "But I have a lot on my mind right now."

"You mean, Steph?" Logan asked. He reached out a hand and placed it on Carlos's shoulder, comforting him. "Carlos, I know that things are hard between the two of you right now, but things are going to get better. "Carlos shrugged. "And I've never known you to be one to give up, especially on something that you really like."

Carlos shrugged again.

"Remember how long you went after the Jennifers? No matter how many times they turned you down?" Carlos gave a half smile. "And don't' forget how you dumped the three of them at the dance just so you could go out with Steph, who you _really_ wanted to go with."

"Yeah," Carlos said slowly. "I remember that. We basically started to date right after that. She thought that I was really cute."

"She still does," Logan insisted. "You can't date someone for three years and then be forced to break up with them and not still have feeling for them." Carlos raised an eyebrow. Logan must have noticed the look on his face because he let out a groan and shook his head. "Please, _please_ tell me that you're not going to do something stupid."

_Too late_ Carlos thought. He sighed as he looked at his hands. _I don't care what it takes; I'm going to get her back some way. _A plan was already formulating in his head, causing a mischievous smile to slide onto his face.

* * *

**A/N: **Ok, with this chapter it goes back to having the chapters split between the BTR guys' problems with the other characters' sprinkled in as well. For example, this one started with Ronan's/Gustavo's/Sydney's then went to Carlos/Noah.

So it'll go in a pattern like that, though I haven't decided how many of the guys' problems will be shown in each chapter. Ah, more friendships and romance starts in the next chapter as well, and things really pick up then and you'll also see more of Brodie, Rooster, Jewel, and Ava as well.

Eh, I'm not a huge fan of this chapter only because I knew how I wanted it to go in my head, but it didn't come out as well as I wanted it to. Probably because I now have even more people than I originally planned t have in this story, if not in this chapter, and as I've never written about the backup dancers before, I'm having a bit of trouble getting their personalities (besides Jewel). Also, this story will show more of DE's music as I haven't really shown it before unless BTR was directly related to it.

More drama comes up in the next chapter. Is there anyone's in particular that you'd like to see next? Oh and we have a new poll on our profile, go check it out and vote, please.

Cheers,

-Riles


	8. Can You Blame Me?

**.:Chapter Seven – Can You Blame Me?:.**

* * *

"So just meet up at my place and we can get ready for the Red Heat together," Jo said into her phone as she walked through the lobby of the PalmWoods. "Just call me when you're on your way because James said that he had something to show me, so he's going to be there first." She grinned. "And my Dad is out for a while so I can be alone with him and not worry about him wondering whether or not the CIA has placed spy cams in his underwear drawer or something." She laughed and glanced at her watch. "I'll see you later."

Jo hung up her phone and slid it into her pocket, heading over towards the elevators. She looked around when she heard a 'Hi, Joey' and smiled when she saw Sydney walking over to her. "Hey, Syd, how's it going?" She asked. "What's up?"

"Oh, Carlos asked me over to the crib, so I came," Sydney said and shrugged. "So, here I am." He then leaned forward, peering at her face. "Hey, you look kinda nervous. Jett isn't around again is he? Is he bothering you?" Jo started to laugh. "'Cause you know, I didn't really get to show him what I was made of last time." He playfully held up his fists, holding them close to his face in a boxing stance. "If he gives you anymore problems, just give me a call."

"I will, Syd, don't worry," Jo reassured him. "It's nice to know that I have a little bodyguard." Her smile waned a bit as she thought about the incident two years ago.

Jett had been coming onto her and she told him that she wasn't interested. Hers and Kendall's relationship was slowly starting to go downhill, it was at the point where they were just about to break up and she was feeling really upset about everything. The two of them couldn't talk about what their problems were and she found herself venting to the girls, James, and Patrick more often than usual. Jett had noticed how upset she was and tried use it to his advantage, practically forcing himself onto her. There was one time that he was chasing her around and Syd was there to defend her from him.

Sydney had taken her into Blazing Phoenix Records so that she could talk to Ronan and he offered to have them call the police. But Jo decided not to press charges and put the whole thing behind her. Even when they started to work on New Town High again, for the next season, Jo and Jett had only interacted when it came to the scenes that they had to do together. On set, they would stay apart from each other. Jo wasn't sure if it was because he was afraid that she would tell the police, especially since she had a witness in Sydney, but was glad that it wasn't being pushed any further. She wasn't sure how things would go down if James found out.

"I promise I won't tell him," Sydney spoke up, seeming to read Jo's mind. Jo angled her head down at him, noticing how much taller he had gotten. "If you don't want me to tell James or anything, I won't tell him." He lowered the left side of his mouth. "Yeah, my siblings know, but we tell each other everything, so that was expected. But they won't say anything either." He stepped inside the elevator and held the door so that Jo could get in as well.

"Well, you guys _are _really good at keeping secrets," Jo agreed.

"Better than you know," Sydney replied under his breath.

Jo looked over at him but didn't say anything. She waited as the doors opened and Sydney stepped out to go to the crib. He smiled his dimpled smile and waved at her before disappearing form view. Jo pressed the button for her floor and waited until the elevator got there before stepping out. She slung her purse up over her shoulder as she fumbled for her keys and went into her apartment. She looked over at the couch and made a face when she spotted James sitting there, casually reading a magazine.

"What are you doing here?" She laughed.

"I'm sorry…" James continued to hold the magazine over his face. "I thought that you wanted to see the surprise that I have for you."

"I do," Jo replied. She closed the door behind her, tossing her purse onto the counter. "But, I'm stuck on the part of how you got into my apartment without a key…" She rolled her eyes before crossing her arms over her chest. "Carlos didn't bust down the door again did he?"

"After how much we had to pay to replace it, we're not making that mistake again," James said and from behind the magazine, Jo could practically see the somewhat paranoid look on his face. "Anyway, can I show you the surprise now?"

"Sure." Jo walked over and sat down on the couch next to him.

James lowered his magazine and grinned at Jo as she gaped at him. He had cut his long, bowl cut hair into a shorter, somewhat spikier cut. Jo opened her mouth to say something and then closed it again as she blinked in surprise. She finally found something to say. "You cut your hair," she remarked.

"You don't like it?" James ran a hand through his hair. "Cause I thought that it would bring in a lot more female attention." He let out a weary sigh. "But, I suppose that if you don't like it, I could just get it buzzed."

"No, that'll make it worse," Jo said, holding up her hands. James grinned at her and she shook her head. "I hate it when you do that," she said. She ran a hand through her hair. "No, James, I do like your haircut, it's really hot, I'm just…confused as to why you changed it _now_?"

"Because of the new year," James replied. "I wanted to try something new. And, besides, if I'm going to go solo, then I need to have something that sets me apart from the rest of the guys." Jo leaned back, looking at James with a raised eyebrow. "I mean, me and Kendall had the same haircut for two…maybe three years and I was just getting tired of being known as…James from Big Time Rush and not James Diamond."

"I get what you mean," Jo said gently, although she felt a twinge of annoyance fill her body. "But I've always seen you as James Diamond, not James from Big Time Rush." She dropped her hands into her lap. "So I guess I just don't get it." She waved her hands. "Whatever, we have some time alone, so why not use it?" She leaned into James, giving him a kiss.

James smiled and kissed her back, cupping her cheek with his hand. He kissed her a few more times before pulling back and planting a kiss on her forehead. "You know, it's been a while since we've been able to have some time alone somewhere. The crib is always crowded and…I'm _scared_ of your Dad, so…"

"My dad's not that bad," Jo defended him. "He's just really protective of me, I'm his only daughter."

"That still doesn't bode well for me," James replied. "Considering your brothers are all part of the marines or whatever, or at least, they're probably going to be if they have the chance." He leaned over and rested his cheek on the back of the couch. "So either way, if I do something wrong, I have all of our friends to deal with, your CIA dad, and your own personal army."

"Don't forget my bodyguard," Jo added.

"What?"

"Nothing."

They continued to kiss until Jo heard James's stomach growl, causing her to laugh and get to go to the kitchen and find something for the two of them to eat. She held her breath as she tentatively brought up the subject that she was kind of afraid of asking. "So…have you heard, or…you know, seen the pictures that Logan and Camille have been sending each other?"

"Yeah," James replied with a nod. "But have they sent more than one? I only saw the one?" He was playing with the thread on the couch.

Jo looked up sharply from the sandwich that she had been constructing. She slowly put down the jar of mayonnaise that was in her hands. "Wait, you've actually seen the picture that Logan sent Camille?" James shrugged and nodded. Jo's upper lip curled.

"I don't really see the problem with that," James said slowly. "I mean, Logan was just showing it around, it's no big deal." He raised a hand, slapping it back down against his thigh. "Camille's shown you guys the picture of Logan, right?"

"Yeah, but that's different," Jo said quickly.

"How?" James looked amused. "It's just a picture."

"It's not just a-"Jo cut herself off, not wanting her annoyance to completely take her over this time. She had been there before, she had been so jealous and annoyed with Kendall and all of the girls that seemed to be around him that she couldn't help but snap each and every time. But when he turned the tables on her and was worried about her and Jett, it was different; she couldn't handle it at all. She didn't want that to happen again, she didn't want to risk things with James. "Forget it," She said. "We obviously have two different views on it. I guess…I'm just worried. If they keep sending pictures to each other-"

"Actually, I'd be worried if they _stopped _sending pictures to each other," James admitted.

"You're such a guy," Jo said. But she smiled as she picked up the plate that had the sandwich cut in half, one half for each of them, and settled onto the couch next to him as they started to watch TV. "But, that's what I like about you sometimes."

* * *

Carlos frowned at the notebook that sat down in front of him before he grabbed the sheet of paper that had been written on and crumpled it up into a ball. He ignored the sting against the palms of his hands as he tossed the paper ball into a corner of the apartment, towards the trashcan. He sighed and started to write again. He looked up as there was a double knock on the door and smiled when Sydney walked into the apartment.

"Yo." Sydney held up his right hand, his thumb and pinkie fingers out, his middle fingers down, and shook it back and forth. "What's up? You sounded kinda desperate on the phone." She grabbed a chair and sat down next to Carlos. He glanced at the notebook that was in front of him. "You writing a song, mate?"

"Yes that's what I need your help with," Carlos said. His eyes were flashing with excitement as he leaned towards him. "You can't tell the others yet, because it's the first time that I've tried writing a song by myself. But I'm writing a song for-"

"You're writing a song for Steph, in hopes of getting her back," Sydney interrupted. He bobbed his head as Carlos looked at him with wide eyes. "It's actually really obvious that was the reason, mate." He sucked his teeth. "Not that it's any of my business, but what makes you think that it'll actually work?"

"Because Steph isn't your sisters," Carlos replied, causing Sydney to give a fond smile.

"No one is," he replied. "That's why I like them so much. They're one of a kind-"Sydney did the Jackson-famous one armed shrug. "Or two of a kind if you want to be realistic." He reached out and grabbed onto Carlos's notebook, pulling it towards him. "You…don't really have a lot here, though, mate,"

"I know, that's why I need your help," Carlos said. "I'm not that great at writing songs and you're twelve years old and have been doing it probably since you've been able to write-"Sydney shrugged. "-So I figured that if you told me how to write a really good song, I could use it to get Steph back."

Sydney pursed his lips for a moment as he thought about it. Carlos took the silence and started to write down on the notebook once more. He twisted his mouth to the side, tapping his pen against his forehead. He wondered what Stephanie was doing at that moment…as he usually did. But then his thoughts move onto Mr. King. _Why would he want to do this to us? _He didn't believe that he was worried that they were too into each other, he was almost sure that there was another reason. _Maybe the fans have been harassing Steph. I usually ignore that sort of thing, but maybe it was bothering her. Or maybe the stress of me having to be away a lot was starting to get to her._

Whatever the reason, Carlos knew that it all stemmed back to the fact that he was part of Big Time Rush. If he wasn't part of the band, if their demo hadn't been picked up he wouldn't have met Stephanie and none of it would have happened. _But if none of it had happened, then we wouldn't have met and fallen in love._

"You know, I never really understood why teenagers got so caught up in who liked who and how long they were together and everything," Sydney's voice brought Carlos out of his thoughts. "But then I look at my sisters and how happy they are with Kendall and Dak, and how happy you were with Stephanie and I understand." He smiled. "So if you really want me help with getting Steph back, then I have no problems helping you with the song."

Carlos grinned. "Great, thanks."

Sydney held up his finger, letting Carlos to know to wait a minute.

Carlos took the moment to study him.

Even though he was twelve years old, he was a lot smarter than all of their friends combined. He was a part of MENSA, has he had mentioned once and never mentioned again, and was quick to help out his friends whenever he needed it. Like Logan, whenever he needed to, he would spout out some sort of a statistic or percentage to help them. Carlos remembered when he had first met Sydney, he was only nine years old and while he was shy, he had a very mature air around him. But that didn't stop him from acting like a kid. Now that Carlos looked at him, he could see all of his brothers and sisters in his face, as they had the same facial structure. Sydney could smirk and narrow his eyes and resemble his sisters, or he could give a bright smile and a laugh, and resemble his brothers. And despite everything that they had gone through, he still managed to have a smile on his face every day.

"Now, I think that doing a song for her would be a really good way to get her attention and show her father how you fell," Sydney said slowly. "Cause, like you said, she's not my sisters and that's what would help you." Carlos laughed lightly. Sydney's eyes started to twinkle mischievously. "But there's something else that you can do, to ensure that you two can get back together and we're going to need everyone's help with it."

"Sweet!" Carlos smiled.

"But you're going to have to do everything I say," Sydney warned.

"Deal." Carlos reached out his hand and the two high-fived.

* * *

Logan shifted his feet as he and his friends waited for the line to move so they could get up to the door and flash their IDs to get into the Red Heat. He felt Camille squeeze his hand and smiled down at her, giving her a kiss on the cheek before squeezing her hand back. He could hear the music of the club pumping through the walls and felt his heart beat start to go along with the beat of the music. It was the first time in a while that he had been excited to go to the club. The last times that they had gone, something bad had happened. Or, bad in the case that it caused some sort of drama.

Katie was caught making out with some guy that had upset Patrick and made Kendall and James furious, Jett wouldn't stop bugging Jo, and…he could relax at all. He was sure that something was going to happen or a fan was going to start some sort of mess when they started to recognize them, or maybe the place would catch on fire and the roof would cave in. He had heard of it happening before and with their luck, knew that something was going to happen then.

But this time, he was actually ready to have a blast.

"So why do they call you Rooster?" Camille asked. The group had invited the Jacksons' backup dancers to go along with them and so far they hadn't really said much. Logan thought that it was because they were all trying to get used to being in America, as it was one of their first times of being there and just needed to loosen up.

And nothing could do that better than a nightclub for teens.

"If you knew his real name, you'd understand," Rhuben spoke up, causing Rooster to smile and roll his eyes.

"I usually have the nickname for three reasons," Rooster replied casually. He rubbed the back of his neck. "Because of my hair color," he pointed to the parts of his hair that was dyed a dark red, the rest brown. "Because of how big my eyes are," they were a bit bigger than normal. "Or because of the fact that I, apparently, run as fast as a chicken."

"He had the nickname before we even auditioned him," Patrick explained. "So it's not something that we came up with, though it wouldn't have been our first choice." He reached out a fist as Rooster laughed and bumped it with his.

"Do the rest of you guy have nicknames too?" WayneWayne leaned against the brick wall behind him. He glanced over at the head of the line before turning back to the backup dancers. "'Cause we all know that these guys like to hand them out like candy."

"Hey, we don't hand them out, you have to earn them," Riley corrected him.

"No, they're all of our names," Brodie replied. "Except for Rooster, he's the only exception because of his name. But the rest of us, it's our names and these guys said that they couldn't give us a nickname because our names were already 'perfect'."

"And these guys are perfectionists," Jewel added, in a mocking side whisper. She and Ava laughed, causing the others to laugh as well. Logan looked over the group of friends and the backup dancers. They all seemed to be getting along very well, which, he noticed, made the Jacksons even more outgoing as they had grown to be over the past couple of years. "But that's what caused them to be so good, they don't stop until they're sure that they're up to where they want to be."

"Stop, you're going to give Patrick and even bigger head than he already has," Noah said, punching his brother on the shoulder. Patrick smiled and shrugged.

"It might be an even bigger improvement, though," Sydney piped up. "If he could fill it with something other than hot air."

Patrick took the jokes in stride.

"Excuse me."

Logan turned around and saw the bouncer standing in front of him. He wasn't the kind of bouncer that was used to kick out people that were drunk; he was the kind to be sure that everyone was as old as they said they were. He checked IDs to be sure that no one older was sneaking in, as you couldn't trust everyone that came back. And, it was a good chance that Gustavo couldn't bust in and make them all go home if he was afraid of them causing some sort of a scene or a scandal.

Logan smiled at the thought.

He took out his ID and handed it over to the bouncer to look over. They were so close to the front of the club that he could hear the lyrics to the music clearly. The beat blasted through his brain and rattled in his bones in a way that he recently had started to enjoy. Logan took his ID back from the bouncer and waited for all of his friends to get theirs checked too before they all headed inside.

Logan immediately felt the temperature rise, which was what caused the club to be named so well, and immediately went off to get a drink before Camille dragged him onto the dance floor. Logan slipped an arm around Camille's waist and pulled her against him as they danced, using his free hand to take a few sips of his soda here and there. As they danced, he looked around the club. It was packed full of people and they all seemed to be having a good time. So far, thankfully, no one seemed to have noticed that they had a bunch of celebrities dancing along with them. He turned around to see their friends dancing in a big group.

He also couldn't help but notice that Kendall and James was keeping a close eye on Katie as Dak was keeping a close eye on his own little sister, Lizzie. He knew that they had a way of being very overprotective of them and found it funny at times. He stayed out of it himself, yes, he did see Katie as his little sister, but he knew her well enough that if she got angry or upset enough, it wouldn't end well for any of them. Logan turned his attention back to Camille and smiled as he grabbed onto her hand and spun her around in a circle before pulling her close again and kissing her.

He didn't know what was going on with him. Ever since they started to work on the third album and try to figure out what they were going to do for the future, something in him changed. He didn't care so much about always setting a good example. He could balance his studies and his music and just having fun. Sure, here and there he would try to talk the other guys out of doing something that was incredibly stupid or life threatening, but it was the most alive he had felt in a long while.

And he liked it.

He was pulled out of his thoughts when Stephanie suddenly came into his view. He made a mental note to ask Carlos what plan he had up his sleeve for getting her back, because he seemed really determined about it earlier.

"Camille, c'mon!" Stephanie grabbed onto Camille's hand. "They called for girls only and I know you've been dancing up a storm, but you're not getting out of this one." Logan let go of Camille's other hand and followed the guys back to the tables that they had taken over.

"If any of them ask us to go dancing again, I'm giving it a big, fat, no," WayneWayne stated as he dropped heavily into a chair, wiping sweat off of his forehead. "My feet are killing me."

"Try doing this and having had a rehearsal earlier today," Kendall shot back.

Logan watched the exchange with mild interest. Kendall and WayneWayne weren't friends, no matter how hard the Jacksons or Camille tried to get them to like each other. But that was Kendall; he could hold a grudge for a long time. And even though WayneWayne apologized for what he had done, there was still something about him that he didn't like or couldn't like. They were civil enough to watch hockey games together and he didn't get as upset whenever Riley opted to hang out with WayneWayne instead of Kendall, but they still wouldn't call each other their friend.

"Hey, the Ziggle Zaggles have to rehearse too," WayneWayne defended himself.

"Yeah, your side-step," Dak cracked, causing the two to laugh. Logan glanced at Dak before looking over at Rhuben, who was holding onto her sister's hands and they were jumping up and down to the music along with Stephanie, who was pumping her fists into the air. Katie, Lizzie, Jewel, and Ava were shouting to each other over the music, but seemed to be having a good time. Logan had noticed a slight tension with Katie earlier, but it didn't seem to be there now. Jo and Camille were singing along with the music, all of them had big smiles on their faces.

"I find it funny that you can have a girlfriend that's a dancer, but can't even do a simple two step," Logan commented as he watched the girls dance together. He shrugged before looking over at Dak, who had looked sharply at him, hearing what he had said. "Maybe you should start taking private lessons too."

"Yeah, if I thought that would help at all," Dak replied slowly. "It's not like I haven't tried, if it's not choreographed to something that I have to do for a show, I just can't do it, no big." He shrugged, looking down into his cup of soda. "There's more ways to have fun." He looked at Logan out of the corner of his eye. "But you and Camille know all about that, right?"

Logan let the comment roll off of his back. He was used to the teasing like that from all of his friends, it bugged him at first, but then it started not to get on his nerves as much. Yeah, he had a girlfriend that liked to show people that he was hers; there was really no problem with it. PDA wasn't really his thing at first, but he and Camille had been together a long time, albeit on and off, but a long time nonetheless. They were allowed to do whatever they wanted.

"Sounds like you don't," Logan replied easily. He took a sip of his own soda. "PDA isn't all that bad. And if you work it up enough, I'm sure that Rhu could get to that point." Dak's hands clenched into fists." But I guess if you tried that and you pissed her off or something and Riles found out, she'd blow a blood vessel before beating your ass to a pulp. Then you _really_ wouldn't have to worry about it."

"Enough!" Dak turned to look at Logan. Logan wasn't sure if it was disgust or not, but couldn't help but smile anyway. It was the first time that he had actually managed to get under the teen icon's skin and while the two had managed to make peace of sorts, it was still satisfying. He was only joking, but he couldn't help but think that he may have taken it one step too far. "I really don't care what you have to say about me, but when it comes to my relationship with Rhu, my personal business, that's where I draw the line. I'm not going to have you talk about her like that, especially since you're the one that, I thought, though so highly of her."

"I do," Logan replied. "I have nothing against her at all, not that you could even begin to understand that. I just don't think so highly of _you_."

"You still don't trust me to be something good for her?"

"Not in the slightest. Not when you're going to be constantly leaving her."

Dak's eyebrows twitched. "And how's that different from Kendall and Riley? Or James and Jo? Or Patrick and Katie? Or Lizzie and Noah?" At the mention of his sister's name, he sat up and looked around. He seemed to relax as he turned back to Logan. "I mean, you guys have to leave at some point, the Jacksons are always leaving every six months if they're not going back every now and then for press or appearances or shows, how's that different? They're going to be in long distance relationships too." He slightly turned his head away. "Or is it just me?"

"I think you know the answer to that," Logan replied.

"Fine, that's your opinion. But you should know that I'm not the kind of guy that you truly think I am." Dak took a step closer to Logan, making sure that he could be heard over the music. "And if I were you, I'd lay off making fun of Riles like that, she and I may make fun of each other, but I draw the line there, too."

Logan waved a hand, dismissing him. "She doesn't care; we make jokes like that all the time."

Dak glanced towards the ceiling before turning and walking away from Logan.

* * *

_Ding dong! Ding dong!_

Ronan looked up from the TV and grabbed onto the remote, pausing the movie that he and Mrs. Knight were watching. It was one of the few times that all of the kids were gone and that they could have alone. Not that they didn't like being around their kids, it was some of the most entertaining times that they had, and there was no doubt that they were going to forever get pulled into whatever trouble they could get into, and wouldn't trade it for the world. But sometimes, they deserved to have some time for themselves.

"Were you expecting anyone to come over?" Mrs. Knight asked, tilting her head to look up at him.

"No, but it could be anyone," Ronan replied as he sat up on the couch, detangling himself from her. "I gave my closest co-workers my home address in case there was an emergency that I needed to deal with while I was out, so maybe something came up." He shrugged before getting off of the couch and walking over to the front door. He pulled it open and blinked when he saw his eldest son at twenty-one, Julius, standing on the front porch with his wife, Brittany.

"Did you change the locks or something?" Julius asked, looking at him funny.

"Or something," Ronan replied. He rolled his eyes slightly. "Syd got to it in one of his experiments and I still haven't called the locksmith yet."

Julius gave a knowing smile and nod. "Too right, that explains it." Ronan grinned and the two men came together in a hug before Ronan moved over to Brittany and gave her a hug and a kiss on the cheek. "It's good to see you two, come on in." He stood back and allowed the two inside, noticing their bags. "What are you doing here?" He then turned towards the living room. "Hey, Kace, Julius is here!"

Mrs. Knight came out of the living room and smiled when she spotted Julius and Brittany, giving them a hug as well. "It's good to see you two, how's Australia?" She then smiled wider. "How's married life?"

"Married life is fine when I'm not too stressed about getting our last year done," Brittany replied. She then jerked her thumb over at Julius. "And if he's not busy with lacrosse, and basketball, and soccer, and his own studies."

"And don't forget working with you guys," Julius added. "When you lot are home."

"Don't pin this one on me," Ronan joked as he held his hands up defensively. "You're the one that said that you wanted to help me with everything." He then lowered his eyebrows as he looked at the two of them curiously. "What are you doing here? You didn't say that you were coming."

"Syd didn't tell you?" Brittany asked.

"Tell him what?" Mrs. Knight prompted.

Julius looked like he didn't want to say anything, then he let out a heavy sigh, running a hand through his hair. "Sydney told me about his decision with the band and everything, not being sure, yeah? So he called me and said that he was thinking about coming home to continue his schoolwork there, living with me and Brittany in our apartment. I thought he told you."

Ronan shook his head. "Yeah, well, there's a lot that he hasn't been saying lately, so I'm not too surprised."

He looked over at Mrs. Knight, who gave him a concerned look in reply.

* * *

"Kendall, what's wrong?" Carlos nudged the blonde teenager on the shoulder. Kendall wiped sweat off of his forehead and looked down at his shorter friend. "You haven't really been dancing." Carlos shrugged. "I know that you can't dance for fun that well, but I know that's not it."

He motioned to Logan and James, who moved over to them and sat down as the four were sitting in a table in the corner, everyone else was on the dance floor. Kendall didn't understand what Patrick's constant endurance training was useful for besides concerts, but now he knew. The Jacksons hadn't stopped dancing since they got there, and they had been there for a little over two hours at that point, neither had their backup dancers, while everyone else took a break every now and then. He was having a good time, but he couldn't help but think about the news that he had gotten.

"Come on, dude, we know that something's been bothering you for days," James added. "What is it?"

Kendall sighed and leaned forward so that everyone could hear him. "Ok, I'll tell you, but you have to promise not to tell anyone else. Not the Jacksons, and not Riley especially. Katie knows, but no one else can know until I think it's time to, alright?"

James, Logan, and Carlos nodded.

"Ok, you know those letters that I've been getting recently?" Kendall asked. At their nods, he continued. "Well, they were from a local hockey team and from Dustin back home. I told him about how we didn't know about the future of our band and everything with this new album and he said that we should try up our band again; you know the one that we started back in Minnesota? Heffron Drive?" The guys nodded. "But at the same time, I have the chance to try out for the local hockey team, thing is that they usually train in Vegas, which isn't so bad since it's a four hour drive away, but I'd probably have to get a place out there as well as being in the PalmWoods. And, like I said, it's only 'cause we don't know what's happening next."

"But that's a great opportunity for you, dude," James said, as supportive as always. "And it's not like you've actually made up your mind yet, none of us have with whatever it is that we want to do."

Logan slowly raised his hand. "I mean, yeah, I want to be a doctor, and I might take the MCAT soon, but otherwise, who knows what's going to happen." He shrugged. "It's good to have a backup."

"But, if I were you, I wouldn't keep this a secret from Riles for too long," Carlos warned him. "Or any of her siblings and Ronan, and Gustavo and Kelly and your mom, for that matter. You got the option of playing with a local hockey team which, like the All-Star team, can jump start you to your goal of being on the Minnesota Wild. Do you think that they're going to give you the chance again?"

"No," Kendall said honestly. "This is the third time they've sent me the letter for it, they probably won't stop until I give a response and I'm not even sure if Dustin is going to come out here or whatever, but I wouldn't doubt it."

"Ok, but were you even planning on telling Riles?" Logan asked. "Because you know that as soon as she starts to suspect something, she can easily get it out of one of us by yelling."

"I don't like it when she yells," Carlos added.

"No." James agreed.

Kendall's eyes flashed and he smirked as his eyebrow twitched. "I kinda like it when she yells." He laughed when James gave him a curious look. "Not like that," he added hastily. "I just mean in general."

"That's weird," Carlos remarked.

"You're forgetting that this is also coming from the guy that likes it when his girlfriend makes fun of him," Logan pointed out. "And the guy that prefers to cuddle while his girlfriend prefers to make-out." He held his hands up when Kendall, James, and Carlos looked at him. "The second one I got out of Camille, I didn't know it was a secret."

Kendall laughed along with his best friends.

"It wasn't a secret that should have been kept from _me_," James said as he pulled his little black book out of his pocket. He made a show of licking the tip of a pen that he also produced from his pocket and started to scribble in the book. "Now," he turned back to Logan. "Is there anything that you know about Rhu that should be in here too?"

"She can be as dominate as she is submissive but is more submissive," Logan replied. He ignored James who was now scribbling furiously as he turned back to Kendall, who was looking at him with wide eyes. His casual wave of a hand annoyed Kendall. "Just to get him off of my back. Now, you didn't answer the question. When were you planning on telling her? Tonight?"

"No point in that." Kendall snorted. He pointed over to the dance floor. "She hasn't really been paying attention to me tonight. She's been talking to Brodie." He shrugged. "He's cool and all but-"

"Yeah, yeah, we know where this is going," Carlos rolled his eyes. "Take it from me, you don't want to have anything get in the way of your relationship, so if you're feeling threatened, which you obviously are, just go talk to him yourself."

Kendall looked over at Carlos for a moment before getting up from the table and walking onto the dance floor. The Jacksons, Brodie, Jewel, Rooster, Ava, Katie, and Lizzie were dancing enthusiastically to _It's Tricky. _If he had to guess, Patrick probably requested the song to play, as he was the only one of their friends that he knew to really enjoy rap music.

Kendall tapped Brodie on the shoulder to get his attention. "I need to talk to you," he said before walking off of the dance floor. "I know this is going to sound weird, considering I just met you and everything, but could you please back off of Riles?"

"Excuse me?" Brodie replied.

"I mean, I know that you guys, you and Rooster, were chosen because the chemistry between you and Rhu and Riles had to be one of the main factors in whether or not you were chosen to be their backup dancers, what with having to put on a show and everything…" Kendall knew that he was rambling, but couldn't stop himself. "But I can't help but think that there's something going on between you two, tonight. She hasn't said, like, more than five words to me and is spending more time with you."

"Well, sorry if they're trying to be good hosts to us while it's our first time in LA," Brodie replied, giving him a funny look. "And, I'm not interested in her that way. Maybe when we first met, sure, but we had a rule where-"

"There wasn't to be any romantic entanglements between co-workers," Kendall broke in. "Yeah I know all about that."

"And I can guarantee I'm not a threat to you," Brodie added. "She cares about you a lot. She talks about you at least once in all of her letters and phone calls." He gave Kendall a funny look. "Though they're not always compliments-"

'Yeah, I know that too." Kendall gave a half smile.

"But, like I said, I'm not interested in her that way, not anymore," Brodie replied. "Besides, I don't think she's my type. I'm not a threat to you."

Kendall eyed him. "Are you gay?"

"No," Brodie smiled and laughed. "I'm just saying…" He held up his hands. "If you're really worried about something like this, though I don't think you have to since I know her well enough, then I don't think I'm the one that you should be worrying about."

* * *

**A/N: **Dun, dun, dun, even more drama starts! I hope you guys liked it. If you have any ideas that you'd like to see (if it can fit in with what I have planned) then please, by all means, go ahead and tell me. We like to work your guys' ideas into my stories as well as what we already have planned.

Also, as you can see, some of the things in this story mentions _Elevate _but some of it has been changed so that it makes sense to the timeline as well as to the last story. I think that having the chapter jump from all four of the guys' problems, focusing on one more than the other each chapter, will help move the story along as well as not have you guys die of anticipation to know what'll happen next.

Oh and Logan was a jerk, but there's a reason for it, of course. I wonder if any of you could figure out why.

Note; I mean no offense at all to the 'are you gay' line. In my head, the way that he would say it, as if weighing the options of how he would be wrong, was humorous.

Cheers,

-Riles

**Fun Fact:** When we first created Patrick and Noah, Noah was just as outgoing as Patrick was. Then we changed him to the strong/silent type


	9. What are friends for?

**.:Chapter Nine – What are friends for? :.**

* * *

"Gustavo, I have told you a million times, I don't need your help," Ronan said, shuffling his papers on his desk. He was getting his office ready for the time that he was going to be gone, resting form surgery. It wasn't much longer until he was going to have to go in, and not much longer until he had to tell his kids about it. If he could put it off any longer, that'd be great. But Kacy and even Kelly were pushing him to do it soon. He had learned pretty quickly that what happened with the DarkElements or Big Time Rush, would affect the other almost immediately.

_That's really starting to be a pain in the ass, _Ronan rolled his eyes.

"Yes, you do," Gustavo insisted. He crossed his arms and leaned back in his seat. "Do you _really_ think that you can continue to run your company without actually being there?" He rolled his eyes. "I know that you have this stupid thing of doing things yourself-"

"And this is coming from the man that hides under his desk pretty much anytime Griffin comes anywhere near his office," Ronan pointed out. Gustavo made a loud snorting sound and Roan turned and picked up the box that was sitting in his seat. He turned and haphazardly dropped it to the ground, spilling out more papers but didn't bother to pick them up. He then sat down in his chair, mimicking Gustavo's posture. "Is that all you wanted to come by to talk about?"

"No," Gustavo said honestly. "I wanted to talk about Big Time Rush."

"What about them?" Ronan asked. He raised an eyebrow. "Are you going to try and use their relationships for your personal gain again?" He held up a hand. "Because I didn't have a problem with it when it when Kendall and Jo were dating." He paused. "Not really, because it wasn't any of my business, but when you bring my daughters into it-"

"Relax, Father of the Year," Gustavo interrupted, holding up a hand. "I could care less about who the dogs are running around with." He thought for a moment. "Just as long as it doesn't bring bad publicity and actually helps them in the long run, I don't really get it, it just makes people all loopy." He waved his hands into the air. "_Anyway_ that's not what I wanted to talk about."

"So what _did_ you want to talk about?"

Gustavo regarded Ronan carefully.

He could see how tired and…possibly scared Ronan was. Just as tired and scared that Gustavo was. The two of them had to deal with the unforeseeable future about their record companies and they were both dealing with it in different ways. Gustavo was trying to do it in a hands off approach, not have the guys worry so much and allow them to do whatever they wanted with their future. Their contracts weren't up yet, and it was probably a good thing that they were trying to figure out whether or not they could do it on their own. Ronan, on the other hand, while he was the guy that had a thriving record company with it being set in numerous companies, due to years of hard work, but he was still only working with his kids. It was part of his contract with Robert at first that he wasn't allowed to work with any other band while he was working with them. But now that he was off of that contract and had made up his own after Robert went to jail, moving in to become their manager as well as a music producer, he was free to help whomever he wanted.

But from what he could understand, things had been slow going for a while, especially finding bands in the California area that would keep up with his idea of what a good band made. Gustavo thought that he was crazy with that tactic, but beggars couldn't be choosers. Gustavo knew how hard being in the music industry was especially considering Big Time Rush seemed to be his last chance of hitting the big time. If their band ended soon, sooner than he hoped, he wasn't sure what he was going to do next.

"About their future," Gustavo replied. "About our companies' futures." Ronan listened carefully. "I know that you're having problems with the fact that you could lose your company." Ronan's eyebrows rose but he didn't say anything. "It's kind of hard to keep that from getting out when it comes to the music industry. Every record company is trying to beat each other out." He snorted. "Why do you think that there was such a fight over Justin Bieber?"

"I thought it was a fight to keep him _away_ from their company," Ronan cracked.

"Whatever." Gustavo scratched the side of his neck. "Either way, the future isn't looking too good for us right now. What with digital sales as it is and how you don't particularly like to have your guys' albums up on digital downloads until a few months after the initial release, I can see how things are getting hard for you." He cleared his throat. "The boys' album did better on the iTunes charts than from real store sales."

"And?" Ronan prompted.

"And it's making you worried. Even with all of the investments that you've made, and all of the money that you have from touring and record sales and appearances and what have you, you're still worried." Gustavo was silent for a long moment. "And so am I. The dogs…the _boys_ I know that they aren't going to stay in this forever."

Ronan tilted his head the other way as he listened.

"Carlos could go do whatever he wanted if he could sit still long enough, everyone knows that Logan wants to be a doctor, James wants nothing but this for the rest of his life, so I guess I could count on him, and Kendall would probably give up his life to help any of them so I'm not sure what to think of him." Gustavo waved a hand. "But all I can say is that time is short and we need to make decisions now."

Ronan now took the chance to study Gustavo for a chance. His words struck something in him. _Time is short…_he was probably thinking about his father's death. It was sort of sudden; Gustavo hadn't really been in contact with his parents for years, probably from the bit of resentment that Gustavo felt for them having forced him to play the piano for hours on end when he was a kid. Then he turned around and didn't help the much as they got older. He gave them money and sent them to hospitals and made sure that they were fed whenever they needed it, but he didn't really go visit them. He didn't go to them on vacations, he only called on birthdays, he couldn't remember the last time that they had called _him_ to say hello. The when his father died, it was like everything was clearer for him. He didn't talk about it, but he did act a bit differently than usual.

"I get what you mean," Ronan agreed.

He ran a hand through his hair, letting out a breath of air. He, frankly, wasn't sure what to do at that point. He just wanted to focus on getting the surgery on his tendon done and then working through the down time he was going to have away from the studio. Then, of course, there was dealing with his kids, who were going to be running all over the place. That is if they didn't stick to him like glue, wanting to help him the best they could as he tried to recover. He knew that they could be worry-warts, he had seen it over the years, but sometimes, it got on his nerves.

"We really don't know what's going to happen in the future with our bands, with Big Time Rush especially," Ronan agreed. "It's like you said, you don't know what the guys want to do, especially since we don't know if Griffin is going to renew their contracts." He waited for Gustavo to say something, and kept going when he didn't. "Especially since when you sold your mansions to keep them from Griffin, you said that they would only have a three year one and the three years is almost up."

"Please, don't remind me, I'd rather not have a heart attack at this age," Gustavo muttered.

"Gustavo, we're both getting old, we know that," Ronan joked.

"You may be old but I'm in my prime," Gustavo shot back.

"If by 'prime' you mean 'prime real estate' for when you kick the bucket, then I'll believe that." Ronan laced his fingers together and rested his hands on his stomach. "But I get your point. We're both stuck, though with two completely different problems." He twisted his mouth to the side before running a hand over his face. "Seriously, though, we're kinda pathetic." He laughed a little.

"You may be, McGuire but I'm not," Gustavo insisted. He stood up, reaching out a hand towards Ronan. "So do we have a deal? So we help each other out?" Ronan thought for a moment before standing up and taking Gustvo's hand, shaking it firmly in his.

"Yep, we gotta deal," he replied. He took his hand back and made a show of wiping it on his shirt, causing Gustavo to give him a disgruntled look. It scared Ronan a little bit, it was probably the quietest that he had ever seen Gustavo, and it was probably going to be the last time that he saw him this quiet. "Thanks."

Gustavo shrugged. "What are friends for?"

"Exactly," Ronan replied.

* * *

**A/N: **I thought that I would show some times that Gustavo and Ronan get along, especially when it had to do with Ronan's impending surgery and Gustavo's father's death from the last story. Next chapter, a big part of it has to do with Katie, so I hope you're ready for that.

I hope you guys liked it. If you have any ideas that you'd like to see (if it can fit in with what I have planned) then please, by all means, go ahead and tell me. We like to work your guys' ideas into my stories as well as what we already have planned.

Cheers,

-Riles


	10. Share

**.:Chapter Ten – Share:.**

* * *

"Hey."

Jo looked up and smiled as Riley walked into Blazing Phoenix Record's costume closet. Her smiled widened when Riley stopped and looked around the room before taking a step back into the hallway and looking at the name plate by the door. Jo clasped her hands together in front of her, slightly twisting back and forth, as Riley walked back into the costume closet, dropping her drawstring bag to the ground.

"So, what do you think?" Jo asked, throwing her arms into the air, waiting for Riley's reaction. Riley's eyes slowly moved around the costume closet before she sat down on the arm of the couch. Jo had cleaned up the costume closet and even arranged the racks of clothes that were separate for her and her siblings. She had even used a table that was usually used for (haphazardly) storing their magazines on, as a place to display their pocket and wallet chains and their belts. Jo noticed Riley's look and then pointed in the corner. "Oh, I put up a magazine rack."

"Thank god, I thought we were robbed," Riley said teasingly. She brought a leg up to her chest. "You did a good job, Jo-Jo, but…" she trailed off for a minute, looking at Jo carefully. "We hired you as an assistant on a job basis, what are you doing in here on your day off?"

When the DarkElements first had their band created, their father and manager at the time, Robert, had snuck into their contract that he had control over who they hired to help them out. But after going through a few assistants, he thought that it would be better if they did things by themselves, relying only on their own work. That was something that they didn't really mind, as they liked being able to do things on their own. He pushed them to style themselves, work on their own choreography, write their own lyrics, create their own melodies, and come up with their own ideas for their music videos. He even put in Ronan's contract that he wasn't allowed to work with any other band while he was working with the Jacksons. But now as they had freer reign to do what they wanted in their contracts, Ronan, with the help of his kids, was actively looking for new bands and singers to sign to his label.

The Jacksons even hired their friends to help them out, Stephanie was their new backup dancer and shadowed Rhuben to learn how to create choreography, Camille helped Patrick when it came to workouts by introducing yoga and healthy eating to them, and Jo was hired to help Riley with fittings and stylings for events as well as shadowing Noah and Sydney to figure out how to write songs and record music.

"I didn't really have anything to do…and I'm kinda annoyed with James, so I thought that we should spend some time apart," Jo replied with a modest shrug. "And, you were always saying that no matter how many times you cleaned, it still looked like a bomb went off, so I thought I'd help."

"Ace, could you clean out the boys' costume closet too?" Riley asked with a small smirk. "I'm sure that Gustavo is going to be screaming at me for that soon, too. Even though I don't work with him anymore, he always finds some way to get me sucked back in." She rolled her eyes. "Good thing is that I'll be able to work more no our looks for our music video." She suddenly held up a hand, her eyebrows lowering in confusion. "Hang on a tick, you're mad at Handsome? What'd he do?"

Jo shrugged as she moved and sat down on the couch next to Riley. She dropped her hands into her lap and chewed on her bottom lip before brushing her hair out of her face. "I mean, it's not even that big a deal. But he doesn't think that there's something wrong with the pictures that Logan and Camille are sending each other."

"Well, he's a guy, so I don't see how that surprised you," Riley pointed out. Jo laughed. "But it seems like being annoyed is going around today."

"You're annoyed at him too?"

"No, more like Logie," Riley corrected her. She frowned a little, twirling the end of one of her pigtails around her finger. "I mean, he told the guys something that I told you girls in confidence. And now Carlos won't stop making kissing noises every time I come around him." She gave a half smile. "Which isn't that different from the way that Carlos usually acts, but still. It was more embarrassing than I thought that it was going to be." She scratched the side of her neck. "I mean, my private life is private for a reason." She made a scoffing sound and rolled her eyes as she leaned forward, resting her arms on her brought up leg. "And the fact that he threw it out there like that _really _pissed me off."

"Well, did you tell him?" Jo tilted her head back to look up at her raven haired friend. Riley twisted her mouth to the side as she shook her head. "Why not? He's not going to know what you're mad at him for if you don't tell him."

"What's the point?" Riley shrugged. She looked over at Jo, her face completely void of any emotion. "He'd have to care enough to want to do something about it." She let out a heavy sigh before lowering her voice. "Keep a secret?" Jo nodded. "Ever since he came out here to LA, I've noticed that he's changed. He isn't the guy that was somewhat of a nerd and cared about math and science like it was his job anymore. And I don't know if it's the fact that fame has gone to his head or if it's LA in general, but he has changed, and, honestly, I don't really see him as my best friend anymore."

"You don't?" Jo's eyebrows rose.

That was news to her.

When she first met the guys, when Kendall wasn't too busy trying to get her attention even though she was under the ruse of having a boyfriend, there were a few things that they talked about a lot. James talked about himself, Kendall talked about hockey, Carlos talked about anything that was interesting him at the time, and if Logan wasn't talking about math and science (or some other form of homework and advising the guys not to do something stupid) then he was telling stories of him, Riley, Rhuben, Patrick, Noah, and Sydney when they were in Texas. Jo figured out pretty quickly that he had thought highly of them and even though they had been apart for eight years, he still thought of them as his best friends. When she became friends with them and learned about the 'tradition' that the two bands had every Friday night, and when he, Riley, and Rhuben would hang out afterwards, she knew how close they were.

"No, not really," Riley agreed. "I mean…it's kinda like with Dak and Lizzie. When we first met them, they were eager to hang out with all of us, and then the two of them started to hang out more with Rhu and Patrick and Noah. It was sort of the same thing with Logan when we first met up with them again. He was eager to hang out with the two of us and then started to hang out more with Rhu."

"And that bothers you?" Jo was trying to get to the bottom of it, even though she was still confused. It was weird to her, especially because Riley was usually so open with what she was feeling about anything. Yeah, it got her in trouble sometimes and other times she managed to offend someone when she didn't mean to, but she usually wasn't afraid to do it. But now that she was hesitant to say anything to Logan made Jo think that there was something more going on than what she was letting on.

"It did at first," Riley admitted slowly. "But not anymore." She licked her lips. "It's like…deep down I knew that Logan and I were never really best friends, because I always knew that Rhu was and always will be closer to him. I really realized it when I noticed that he usually didn't try to make plans with me, though Kendall, James, and Carlos would. And I'm perfectly fine with that. Same with Dak, he never really makes plans to hang out with me or the kids-"Jo smiled at Riley's way of referring to her brothers. "-and at first that bothered me too, but then I realized that Rhu always had been and always will be closer to him than I am." She waved a hand. "There are always some people that are closer to others, just like with the five of us, we're all close, but since Rhu and I learned how to become independent from each other pretty early, we have closer relationships with Patrick and Noah."

"But you and Dak are _always _getting under each other's skin," Jo pointed out. She pressed a finger to her chin, pretending to think. "Ever since I met the two of you, all you do is try to see who can out insult each other."

Riley grinned. "Yeah, most people don't get that he's like…no, not like, he _is_ my brother," She waved her hand. "I annoy him and he annoys me and that's how we work. He's so much like my brother that if he's ever at the house and then has to leave, it's like he didn't leave at all because I still have four more and a Ronan to deal with." She rolled her eyes.

"Have you ever told him that?" Jo looked at her funny. "That you think of him as a brother?"

"Pshht, no," Riley replied. She looked at Jo as if she had just suggested that she had grown two heads. "Then he'd know that I actually like him and that's no good." She gave a half smile. "Seriously, Jo, don't worry about me and Logie, things are going to be fine." Riley stood up and placed her hands on her hips, her eyes moving around the room. Jo could see a look of anxiety in her eyes. "Ok, like I said, I'm glad that you cleaned up everything, but I had an organized mess." Her eyebrows lowered as she tapped her fingernails against her teeth. "Did you see a stack of belt buckles anywhere?"

"Yeah, I think I stepped on them when I was moving the racks around," Jo said as she got up from the couch too. She winced as her foot touched the ground, to prove her point. She brushed her hair out of her face and looked at Riley out of the corner of her eye. "You know, I find it funny that we ended up becoming such good friends. I mean, first you were interested in James and he turned you down, then I started to go out with Kendall…then you started going out with Kendall and I started going out with James."

"Honestly, there was no way that we _weren't_ going to become friends," Riley pointed out. "We have too many people around that it's almost impossible _not_ to be friends. The fact that we ended up, somewhat, dating the same people, is just a coincidence." She looked at her feet, starting to rub her arm. "And, I know I haven't said it a lot, but you _are_ a really good friend to me and I wanted to thank you for always sticking around, even though for a while we were jerks to you lot."

"Well, I'd say it was worth it," Jo replied.

Riley gave a sweet smile and Jo laughed and leaned over, giving her a hug, which Riley returned.

* * *

Rhuben looked up as the doorbell rang. She looked down at the bowl that was in her lap before putting it on the table beside her. She stood up, adjusting the football jersey that she was wearing, and went to the front door. She grabbed onto it and pulled it open, raising an eyebrow when she came face to face with James and Kendall, who were both grinning widely at her.

"What are you guys doing here?" She asked, taking a step back to let them inside. "Not that I'm not happy to see you, but I thought that you had to work at the studio or something today." She closed the door behind them and started to walk back to the living room. "You know that your third album isn't going to write itself."

"We know, we're taking a break," Kendall replied as he followed her. "We thought that we'd see how you were doing."

"Yeah, Beautiful," James added, a bright smile on his face. "We remembered that Dak was leaving today and we thought that we'd come cheer you up." He studied her carefully. "Because we know how depressed you can get when he leaves."

Rhuben gave him a sharp look over her shoulder as she sat down on the couch. "I'm not depressed," she denied. "If I were depressed, I'd be eating a bowl of ice cream." Kendall raised an eyebrow and pointed over to the bowl that was next to her. Rhuben didn't bat an eye. "That's pudding."

"Ooh! Even better!" James reached out and grabbed onto the bowl, spooning some into his mouth. Rhuben laughed, brushing her hair out of her face. "Anyway, Kendall and I have a day planned for you that you're really going to like."

Rhuben sighed. "Sorry, but I'm not really in the mood." She reached out and took her bowl of pudding back from James, as he made a whining sound, trying to grab it back from her. "I was just planning on staying in and watching TV."

"Benny, come on, you can't just sit inside all day, waiting for Dak to land so that he can call you," he said gently. He reached out and rubbed her knee. "We're not going to let you do it anyway," he added, motioning over to James, who was now pouting, staring directly at the pudding bowl. Kendall turned back to Rhuben with a frozen look on his face. He slowly blinked. "Well, _I'm _not going to anyway."

Rhuben gave a half smile. She was used to having to go to the airport, if it wasn't for saying goodbye to Ronan as he went back to Australia at times to work on some of his company work there, going to Australia to work on her own music, sending Big Time Rush off on their tours and appearances, saying goodbye to Jo, Camille, or WayneWayne if they had acting jobs that were out of the state, she was going to the airport to say goodbye to her boyfriend. Because Dak had mostly moved on from the TV and Film industry to work on music theatre, he was gone more often than usual, having to tour those shows around the US. And while she was used to having to say goodbye to people, it still made her a little bit depressed each time she had to say goodbye to her boyfriend.

The Jacksons and Lizzie had gone up to the airport to send Dak off to New York. He and Rhuben opted to sit a few spaces away from the others so they could have some time along to themselves before he had to board his plane. Things were fine for a while, they just talked about Rhuben's and her siblings' upcoming music and the movie that they had watched together the night before. But then things had to be damped a little bit when Logan had called Rhuben to ask her something. Ever since they had gone to the Red Heat and the two had gotten into a little fight, things were more tense than usual if they were around each other. But they were doing their best to be civil about everything.

Dak never considered himself a jealous person, but the fact that Logan didn't want him and Rhuben to be together in the first place always had him a bit on the edge whenever he was around. Just in case. And the same thing happened whenever Logan called her. He respected her, he loved her, and he trusted her, but there was always a small part of him that got worried whenever he called. Especially if, and he knew deep down it probably usually did, it had to do with him. Dak had watched as Rhuben talked to Logan on the phone and then pulled it away, looking at the screen for a long moment, before lifting it back to her ear again. If he had to guess, Logan had probably sent her another shirtless picture to see what she thought about it before sending it off to Camille.

But that was a whole other story. Dak watched as Rhuben closed her phone and shoved it into her pocket, walking back across the airport "What'd he want?" Dak had asked as Rhuben walked back around the bench and sat down next to him. He looked at her curiously, waiting for her to respond.

"Nothing," Rhuben said.

"Oh, come on." Dak swung his legs up onto the bench before grabbing onto Rhuben and pulling her back so she was resting against his chest. He then wrapped his arms around her, resting his chin on her shoulder, gently breathing in her scent. "What'd he say?"

"Nothing," Rhuben insisted. "And if you're wondering, Lizzie is staying with Katie tonight so that she doesn't feel too lonely without you around. Dak had given her a funny look and she continued. "It's better than coming back to find WayneWayne murdered, you know those two are always getting into slap fights with each other." At Dak's slight huff, she tilted her head back to look at him. "Listen, I know that you're her legal guardian now but you don't have to act like a parent towards her."

"I could say the same to you," Dak reminded her. He dug his fingers into her sides, causing her to laugh and squirm against his grasp, trying to get away from the tickle torture. He sighed and gathered her hair into a ponytail, gently running his fingers through her hair. Rhuben let out a light sigh at the feeling. "I can't help it," he said finally. "With mom and dad not being good parents, I can't help but worry."

Dak, due to how his parents cared more about their jobs than their kids, had finally snapped and gotten emancipated from his parents. At that time, he also took Lizzie under his guidance and the two moved into the Jacksons' old apartment that they shared with Ronan, along with Wally 'WayneWayne' Dooley after he got tired of living at home. Being almost twenty years old, WayneWayne quickly got tired of his sisters continuing to treat him like their baby brother as well as constantly digging into his private life. So WayneWayne jumped at the chance to move in with them. Even though he was emancipated from his parents, Dak talked to them every now and then though not as much as most people would. He couldn't seem to get over the fact that he felt neglected by them as he was growing up, them caring more about the jobs that he was getting rather than what he wanted to do with his life.

"I know," Rhuben gently ran her fingers up and down his leg before letting out a slight snort. "Trust me, I know." She twisted her body around so that she was now sitting between his legs, but so that hers were draped over his. That was they were still sitting close to each other but now she could look directly at him and not have to worry about her neck being twisted a funny way. Studying him carefully, she reached up a hand and gently rubbed his neck. He closed his eyes and shivered at her touch. She gave a half smile before moving forward and gave him a quick kiss. "Seriously, relax."

Dak opened his eyes and gave her a playful smile. "I'll only relax…" he gently grabbed the sides of her face. "If you tell me what you two were talking about."

Rhuben pretended to think about it. "Yeah, no." She shook her head before giving an exaggerated shrug. "And last I checked, you two don't get along, so why would I want to ruin your mood, when you should be sad that you have to leave me?" Laughing, she pushed her hair out of her face. "If it were important, I would tell you, promise."

Dak sat up and rested his arms in Rhuben's lap, giving her a long kiss, which she returned eagerly. PDA wasn't her thing in the slightest, but she knew that she wasn't going to be able to do it again for a while. He was going to New York to start pre-production on one of the shows that he had just gotten a part for, then he would be back in LA, but then shortly after that he would be leaving again to start touring with the show. So if they were going to get their picture taken, or get caught on video, she was going to put up with it for the time being. Dak then kissed her on the forehead, then noticed her grimace and pulled back, noticing her looking at him funny. "What?" he asked.

"My brothers do that," she said, pointing to her forehead. "And so does Ronan and so does my grandpa." She then gave him a pointed look. "So you can either not do that, or have me think really, _really _weird thoughts when you do, yeah?"

Dak laughed.

Then his flight was called. He said goodbye to Riley, Patrick, Noah, and Sydney before turning to Rhuben and promising that he would call her as soon as he landed and as soon as he got to the hotel. He then gave her another long kiss, squeezing her hand in his, obviously not wanting to let go, before leaving and boarding the plane. Riley then had to go to the studio to clean out the costume closet, Patrick went to Rocque Records to help out Carlos with the song that he was writing, and Julius took Noah and Sydney out for the day. He offered to bring Rhuben along with them, but she decided to stay home. Now here she was, trying to keep James from eating her pudding and not reach for her phone in anticipation each time it rang.

"Well, we thought that we'd do something that you'd have fun at," Kendall continued, as if he didn't hear her. He slowly started to reach into his pocket. "We heard through the grapevine that you love cars, so James and I pulled some strings with Gustavo and…" with a flourish he pulled three tickets out of his pocket. "Got VIP tickets to the auto show that's happening in the city today. We even get to test drive some of the new models."

"No way!" Rhuben reached out and snatched the tickets from his hand.

She couldn't help the smile that spread over her face as she looked them over. Not many people knew that she was a big car enthusiast. It wasn't something you would usually find in a magazine, it would take knowing her pretty well or some internet research to figure it out. But she had always been a fan of classic cars, whether they were custom or restored. She loved anything that had four wheels, just about, unless it was a vehicle that looked too boxlike, clunky or 'military'. When it came to the time that she and Riles had gotten their first cars for their sixteenth birthday (which was a present from Ronan) she had hinted to him that the Ford Fusion was the way to go, and then they got it. And when the two girls had bought their own cars back in Australia, a purple and black camaro for her and a red and black challenger for Riley, she had researched it for days to be sure that they were getting the best cars around.

Nothing had made her happier than being able to buy one of her dream cars herself. And now she was going to be able to go to a show with even more classic cars and she was even going to be able to test drive them. Rhuben stood up and leaned over, giving Kendall a hug. "Thanks K-Dawg, this is awesome."

"That's not all, either," James said, holding up a finger. "You're also going to take my pictures to give me a new headshot." He spread his arms wide and opened his mouth in a wide smile. Beside him, Kendall slapped a hand over his face and muttered 'unbelievable' under his breath. Rhuben looked at him funny, placing her hands on her hips and jutted her hip out.

"Not that I'm not glad to do it, Handsome, but how is that supposed to make me feel better?" She asked. She exchanged a look with Kendall and he just held up a hand and shook his head. By that point of knowing them, Rhuben had gotten used to the fact that they didn't always make sense with the decisions that they made. Usually she was able to see what they were trying to do, but this time, it really didn't make sense to her.

"Apart from the fact that you get to spend the whole day with a guy as good looking at me, you also get to take my picture and have everyone see it when they use it as my new headshot." James then gave her a gentle smile. "And because I know how much you like to take pictures that it'll take your mind off of things for a while." He looked at his arms. "And if you give me a hug now, you'll get to be nestled in my strong arms." He opened his mouth in a wide smile again.

Rhuben couldn't help but laugh. "I don't know how you do it, Handsome, but even if you're being egotistical and flirty, you can still make me laugh." She moved forward and gave him a hug as well before giving both boys a kiss on the cheek. "Thanks, babes, it's just what I needed today."

"You're welcome, Beautiful." James got to his feet and nudged Kendall as well. He clasped his hands together before giving Rhuben a charming smile. "Now, we can leave, but…" he pointed one hand over to her bowl. "Only if I can have the rest of your pudding." Rhuben rolled her eyes before leaning over and grabbing the bowl, handing it to him. "Yay!" James eagerly grabbed the spoon and started to eat the chocolate dessert. He only looked up when he noticed the silence that was around him, noticing Rhuben and Kendall staring at him.

"Sharing is caring," He muttered before finishing off the pudding, causing Rhuben and Kendall to laugh.

* * *

**A/N: **The Jo and Riley part of this chapter was originally going to be a one-shot, but I slightly tweaked the idea I had for it. And, if I ever say that something is going to happen in the next chapter in a author's note, take it with a grain of salt, because my thought process of chapters and how stories go change pretty quickly, hence why you didn't see Katie in this one. Soon you're going to see more of Julius and how he deals with his siblings. He's one of our characters that's supposed to be a secondary one, but I figured that I'd show him more to give him more of a personality, if that make sense.

I said that I'd show a lot of different moments of friendship in this fic and this is just the beginning. ;)

I'm trying out a different style of flashbacks kind of like the ones that I had done for my unfinished _Live _series. Also, I had used that Dalla scene originally in _Big Sister _before I deleted it, and I knew that I could use it again if I re-worked it here.

I hope you guys liked it; it'll be updated again on Monday! :D

Cheers,

-Riles


	11. Private Life

**Chapter 11**

* * *

Ronan yawned as he walked out of his room, but he couldn't help but smile at the noise and chaos that was already running rampant through the house, even though it was seven in the morning. First, he walked over to the bathroom where he could hear Patrick and Sydney fighting and peered into the doorway. Sydney was standing on the closed toilet lid and saying something to Patrick, waving a hand above both of their heads as Patrick stood in front of him, arms crossed over his chest and smiling at Sydney.

"I'm just saying that by the time that I stop growing, I'm going to be taller than you," Sydney said, sticking his toothbrush back into his mouth and starting to brush vigorously. "Its genetics, it's real, and it's going to happen."

"And I keep saying that you're always going to be a little shrimp…" Patrick walked forward and wrapped and arm around Sydney's waist, lifting him off of the toilet and stetting him on the ground. "To me anyway." He turned back to the sink and turned on the water before spitting into it.

"Hey, guys, breakfast is ready," Ronan said as he knocked on the doorframe. "You might want to get your butt downstairs before it's all gone."

"Sweet." Sydney ran his toothbrush under the water, pushing Patrick out of the way, and threw his toothbrush into the glass that was sitting in the corner before the two rushed out of the room.

Ronan chuckled before walking over to a closed bedroom door where music was pouring out. He knocked on it loudly. "Too loud!" He called.

"Sorry," Riley called back as the music was lowered.

"Breakfast is ready," Ronan added.

"Coming!" The door flung open and Riley came flying out of her room, pulling on a pair of socks as she went. He laughed as her socked caused her to slide across the hardwood floor and crashed into the banister before she disappeared downstairs as well.

Ronan didn't even have to turn around before Rhuben's door was opened and she walked out, her phone up to her ear. "Say 'bye' to Dak, breakfast's ready," Ronan said as he turned on his heel to go back to his room as he heard the telephone start to ring.

"Got it," Rhuben replied, giving a thumbs up. "I'll get Noah as well."

Ronan walked over and sat down on his bed as he grabbed the phone. He checked caller ID before picking it up and putting it to his ear. "You know, you picked a really bad time to call, we're about to have breakfast and if I don't get down there, there's not going to be anything left."

Mrs. Knight laughed on the other end of the phone. "I think you're exaggerating."

"No, I'm not," Ronan said honestly. "Trust me, when you have them around food, they're like locusts. Locusts at a feeding frenzy, it's nothing to joke about." He gave a soft smile as he picked up his cell phone to check the messages there before turning to his Blackberry, that was sitting on the bedside table. "I know that you called to ask me if I told them about the surgery and I was going to tell them over breakfast." He let out a weary sigh as he looked through the ever growing pile of e-mails that he was getting from his different teams at Blazing Phoenix in California and Blazing Phoenix in Australia. Everyone knew that he was going to be taking some time off, but that still didn't stop him from having to field messages and try to solve problems even when he was still there.

"Your surgery is this weekend," Mrs. Knight pointed out. "I'd hope that you tell them today. I haven't told the boys yet, either, if you don't want me to."

"They're going to find out at some point," Ronan said. He ran a hand through his hair before falling onto his back on the bed. "You can go ahead and tell them. If you tell them or if you don't, either way, they're going to be walking on egg shells around my kids when they do find out, and we all know that that's just going to make it worse."

"You're right," Mrs. Knight agreed. "I'll just let them find out when your kids want to tell them about it." There was a lengthy pause on both sides of the phone. It wasn't that it was a touchy subject or anything really worth getting upset over. His skin wasn't even going to be cut open, it was all going to be done by laser and there would be no scar or bruising at all. But there was still the downtime that he was going to have to deal with as well as the writing and recording that they were already working on (which made him glad that they had a studio in their basement) and trying to figure out how to help Gustavo from his bed was going to be a problem as well.

But he could do it.

"You didn't sound very sure of yourself," Ronan pointed out, putting an arm over his face.

"Neither did you," Mrs. Knight replied. "Just get some rest before your surgery, as much as you can, despite how loud your house can get. And I'll go with you the day of the surgery since, God knows, your kids won't set foot in the hospital."

"But can you blame them?" Ronan's eyebrows twitched as he waited for an answer.

No one really could. They hated hospitals, plain and simple. Sydney practically threw a temper tantrum each time it was suggested that they had to go there, Patrick hated needles in general, and the others just made sure that they didn't have to go. They practically had to be forced the last time they went, when Ronan needed to get knee surgery, and basically didn't leave his side for the couple of weeks that he had been recovering. He didn't want to know what would happen this time. Not that they didn't have good reason to, they watched their parents die in the hospital after a house fire filled their lungs with smoke, then they had the constant trips there themselves when they were being abused by their then father, Robert. They had been to the hospital so much that the doctors knew them by name, figured out their personalities, and knew what food in the cafeteria they did and did not like.

So knowing that at some point they had to go back, not that he was going to force them to go, was enough to make him more nervous about them than his own surgery. "It's not something that they'll particularly like," Mrs. Knight admitted. "But you all can help each other through it." There was a loud thudding sound and hysterical laughter and cheers in the background. "I have to go, Carlos got whacked his head on the bottom of the swirly slide again." Ronan smiled, being able to clearly picture the exasperated look on Mrs. Knight's face. "I'll see you later."

"See ya," Ronan replied and hung up.

He rested an arm over his face before he picked up his Blackberry, which buzzed with five new e-mails and turned it off, setting it aside. He then turned off his cell phone and placed both of them on the bed before getting up and leaving his room. He walked down to the kitchen and slid into his chair, glancing at the plate that was sitting in front of him. He looked around the table, seeing Julius and Brittany at their places, and briefly wondered when they got there, then shrugged it off, figuring that it had to have been when he was on the phone.

"Finally!" Patrick cried, throwing his hands into the air. "I was thinking that I was _never _going to be able to eat."

"And, yet, we all know that's a lie, or else there'd actually be some food in this house," Julius teased his brother, flicking him on the side of the head. "And if I'm not mistaken, I think you were the one that came up with the rule that we can't start eating until everyone is at the table."

"Well, I was stupid when I made that rule," Patrick muttered, drumming his fingers on the table.

"And you're not stupid now?" Noah raised an eyebrow.

Ronan smiled and laughed with everyone before they said grace and started into breakfast. Ronan ate slowly, wanting to put off telling them about the surgery as long as he could. It was bad enough that Sydney barely seemed to really talk to anyone until things suddenly popped up. Julius and Brittany even felt the slight bit of tension when they had told Riley, Rhuben, Patrick, and Noah that they had planned to be in California for a bit while they waited to see if Sydney would decide to figure out whether or not he's going to stay in LA or go back to Australia and finish school. It didn't help that the others were trying to be supportive with everything instead of directly talking to Sydney about how they were feeling about everything, when he knew that they were all devastated in their own right. And, of course, there was the fact that they all needed to start figuring out whether or not they were going to finish with their schooling in college or bypass it all and do whatever it is that they wanted to do.

And he thought keeping them from spending too much was hard. Robert barely let them spend their hard earned money on anything. He was the one that used whatever amount of their money and what he got of being their manager, as much as he wanted. So, to keep themselves grounded, Riley, Rhuben, Patrick, and Noah had gotten jobs at a restaurant in the mall so they could have some money that they could spend as well. But he continued to monitor the usage of that money as well. Then he said that they weren't allowed to touch any of their band money, which ranged from everything from record sales, to concert sales, to appearances, until they were eighteen. That was the one rule that Ronan thought was actually a good idea. They could use as much of their money that they got form allowance and their job at the mal as much as they wanted, but not the money from their band.

So as soon as Riley and Rhuben turned eighteen and were able to use their money, there was a slight change in the rule. They could use their money as much as they wanted, but if it was anything that was a purchase of over a thousand dollars they needed to check it out with him first, to be sure that they weren't going on spending sprees. Of course that didn't stop them whenever he let them use his credit card for something, he still remembered the time that Patrick and Noah had managed to rack up a almost ten thousand dollar bill on some new sporting equipment. Then there was the company credit card, which Riley usually used, to get clothes for her and her siblings for music videos, appearances, and just for the costume closet in general.

"Ronan?" Ronan looked up and turned to Brittany, who had spoken to him. She pointed to his plate and he looked down, seeing that it was still fully, as the others were more than halfway finished with theirs or were already starting on their seconds. Ronan shrugged and cut a piece of his cinnamon roll before taking a bite. "Are you ok? You've barely touched your plate."

"And if you're not going to finish it, I could-"Sydney shrank back in his chair as Ronan pointed his fork at him, narrowing his eyes. Sydney held up his hands defensively before smiling a little. Ronan smiled back before falling back into pushing his foot around his plate with his fork.

"Ok, out with it," Julius declared, pushing his own plate away from him. He barely batted an eye when Riley reached out and grabbed his plate, starting to scoop what was left on his onto her own plate. Patrick elbowed her in the side and held up his own so she could finish putting the rest on his. "What's going on? We all know there's something or else you'd be chatting up a storm with these billy lids." Riley made a face at her older brother, Rhuben stuck out her tongue, Patrick smirked, Noah rolled his eyes, and Sydney shook his head, causing Julius and Brittany to smile and laugh. Julius's smile faded as he turned back to his father. "Seriously, what is it?"

_Trapped. _Ronan let out a sigh, picking up his plate and walking it over to the sink. He scraped everything down into the drain before turning on the water and running the garbage disposal. He could feel seven pairs of eyes boring into his back, watching his every move before he returned to the table and slowly sat down again. "Ok," he said finally. "In a couple of days, I'm going to the hospital so I can get surgery on my Achilles tendon. It's not anything serious, but it's been bothering me for a while and this is what the doctor suggested." He looked around the table at each face before he continued. He had their undivided attention, he knew that for sure. "It isn't going to scar, it probably isn't going to hurt, but I'm going to be on crutches for four weeks, then I'm going to get a cast and a boot for, probably three weeks, then after that, I'm going to be in the boot for two weeks, and then I can start exercising again a couple of weeks after that."

There was a moment of silence until Rhuben slowly raised her hand.

"You're not homeschooled anymore, Rocky, you don't have to raise your hand," Ronan said with a warm smile.

"Right," Rhuben gave a half smile before it faded. Her eyebrows lowered in confusion for a moment. "How long have you known that you were going to go in and get the surgery?" She crossed her arms,, resting them on the table as well. "Because you needed to have some time to prepare for it or else you wouldn't know how long recovery was going to be."

"I hate it when you all do that." Ronan shook his head, letting out a slight laugh. "I've known for a while now and I'm sorry that I didn't tell you guys before. But I knew that you would worry and that's why I didn't say anything right away." He turned to Riley, who looked like they wanted to say something. "Yes?"

"Did Julius and Brittany know about this too?" She turned a slightly accusing glance over to her older brother and his wife. "Is that why you guys are_ really_ over here? Because you knew about it before the rest of us did?"

"No, we came here because of Sydney," Julius replied calmly. "Just as I said to you before, especially because, like I have already stated, he had said that he potentially wanted to go back to Australia to finish his school work there." He pointed at her. "We didn't know about Ronan having to go into surgery, Monster." Riley pushed his hand away and he smiled at her.

"So what does this mean about having to work?" Noah brushed his long hair out of his face as he looked at his father curiously. "Recording and writing and everything? What does it mean if we're gone and you need help around the house or something?"

"That's the beauty of having them come back at this time," Ronan said, pointing over to Brittany and Julius, who gave soft smiles. "I'll need as much help I can get around the house when I'm going to be on crutches and when I have a cast. And since Julius, for the most part, is my assistant anyway, I was thinking that things can actually go smoothly for us for once. I'll be sitting down for the most part anyway when I'm doing homeschooling work with Patrick, Noah, and Sydney. Riles and Rhubes will probably be at the studio or hanging out with the guys anyway, so I don't have to worry about work getting done."

Rhuben snorted. "You're kidding right? With those blokes, you know it's a miracle anytime we get even a line done."

"Yeah, well, if you can't do anything at Blazing Phoenix, Gustavo said that he wouldn't mind you guys going over to Rocque Records to work there," Ronan replied. He paused. "Which was surprising in itself, but whatever." He scratched his jaw. "But the way that I see it, things can be done if we do it in shifts for the most part, or…" he trailed off. "If you don't mind limiting yourself to being able to hang out with your friends or going out for a while."

"No worries," Riley said quickly. "Just as long as we can help you whenever you need it."

"But that doesn't mean that you have to devote all of your time to me," Ronan said quickly. _I don't think I'd be able to handle it. _He gave a wry smile to himself. It was ironic, really. They hated having a lot of attention put on them and on the flipside; it was now his turn to not want a lot of attention put on him when he needed a lot of attention to be able to recover well. "I meant it, I don't want you to drop everything you're doing if you're ever out."

"It's no problem," Patrick said slowly. "We don't mind helping you when you need it." Ronan looked at him curiously. He was surprised that they weren't freaking out or was incredibly mad at him for keeping it a secret for so long. When he needed to have knee surgery the last time, he didn't say anything up until the day before and they were _mad_. But their mad quickly turned to anxiety and fear when he was having the surgery. He didn't know until later that when they had been at the crib, waiting to see how the surgery went, Sydney wouldn't let the phone out of his site for even a second, waiting for him to call and say that he was fine.

But now…

_Oh. _Ronan nodded. He got it. With all of the therapy session that they had gone to and the work that they tried to be happier for the past couple of years, they were doing what their therapist, Dr. Angelo, suggested. They were trying their hardest to be supportive and not upset or scared when it came to him having to go in for his surgery. "Are you sure?"

"It's no worries, Ronan, we already said that," Riley said, standing up. She picked up her plate and grabbed Brittany's as well. "But speaking of, we need to get started on our workout or else we're not going to get anything done today. And if you're going to be going into surgery soon, it's probably a good idea if we get as much done around here as we can."

"Let me," Brittany said. She stood up and took the plates from Riley before walking around the table and getting the other's as well. "I should start getting used to it if I'm going to be a good housewife."

"Speaking of…" Sydney turned to his eldest brother with wide, innocent eyes. "Any plans for a baby soon?" He asked before whipping his phone out his pocket. "Because I have a list of baby names that you could potentially use. Now, keep in mind that some of them may not be as normal as most people think they are, but I think that it'll be catch with our last name."

Ronan laughed before looking around the table.

At least they got one problem out of the way.

One of many.

* * *

"I still can't believe that you talked me into working out with you guys," Katie grumbled as Patrick finished taping up her hands and handed her her boxing gloves. She held them under her arm before flexing her hands and rolling her wrists, to be sure that they were taped well. Patrick gave a half smile but didn't say anything. "You know how much I hate to sweat."

"You really can't do anything physical without sweating so you have to get over it," Patrick said. He crossed his arms over his chest before moving over to the punching bag that had been set up in the gym. He turned and pointed over to Kendall, Logan, Carlos, and James, who were staring up on the treadmills. "Hey guys, start up at the pace that you normally set for a jog and then I'll let you know when to speed up." Riley, Rhuben, Noah, and Sydney were already lifting weights on the other side of the room.

"Just the same, I'd still rather sit in the apartment and wait there, doing absolutely nothing, while I wait to go to school," Katie continued to gripe. It wasn't even the fact that she didn't want to work out that was the problem. She didn't mind working out if she had to, even though she didn't like sweating.

Her eyes moved over to the far side of the gym where Brodie, Rooster, Jewel, Stephanie, and Ava were all working with jump ropes. Her eyes landed on Jewel and she couldn't help but have her upper lip curl when she saw how fast Jewel was spinning the jump rope over her head, her feet blurring as they picked up from the ground with each pass of the rope. She could even hear it whistling from all the way over there. She didn't want to admit it, but she was a little bit jealous. But it wasn't that she was justified with it. Jewel was pretty and she did have a lot of confidence in what she did, and she was good friends with her boyfriend that was enough to make anyone jealous. She tried talking to Lizzie about it when they were at the Red Heat, but they were all having too much fun then, even the guys were having fun and they weren't the type of guys that really liked to dance if they didn't have to.

It was a stereotype, but none of them were that great (excluding, James, Patrick, and Noah who could really feel the music that they were dancing to). Katie did have a good time there, but she found herself standing off to the side a bit more than any of the other girls, watching and trying not to feel as if everyone was looking at her. Like she didn't belong. She wasn't the only one that felt that way, even Lizzie was saying that she felt a little bit worried with how much time that Stephanie was spending with the Jacksons. But she was semi-signed to Blazing Phoenix and they really needed to get started working on the videos and stuff that she was going to do to jump start her career, so that was understandable.

But she and Carlos had broken up a while ago, not that they wanted to. Katie couldn't help but feel bad for Carlos too. He had moped around for a while after Mr. King had made them break up. She had never seen him so devastated. But now he seemed to be up to something, giggling almost in a crazy way at any moment as he grabbed a notebook or a scrap piece of paper and started to write madly on it. He also seemed to be calling the Jacksons more often than he usually did. Katie was trying to figure it out, but she wasn't getting anything out of them at all, which was just as frustrating, because she used to be so good to get anything out of anybody.

"Yeah, well, you can't always get what you want," Patrick said as he finished taping his won hands. He used his teeth to ripe the tape before tossing it into his bag. He then placed his hands on his hips, turning to he backup dancers. "Hey, Jewel!" He called over to her. She stopped jumping and looked at him curiously. "When you all are done over there, you can start working out with the weights; this time I want you all to focus more on your legs." He then turned to Big Time Rush. "And I'll get to you guys in a few minutes."

"Oh no," Logan joked. "We must have done something wrong; he's got that evil glint in his eye."

"Ugh and my arms _just_ stopped hurting form the last time that we did something to piss him off," Kendall added, going at a light jog. "So, what do you think it was this time that made him want to make us be reduced into a puddle of jelly."

"You running your mouths," Patrick replied, pointing over to them. "Now get going!" He turned back to Katie rolling his eyes as he grabbed onto the punching bag and instructed for her to start punching it in the middle of the bag.

"Is something wrong?" She asked, stepping up to the punching bag, throwing off the towel that was on her shoulders. She slid her gloves onto her hands and fell into the familiar boxing stance before starting to hit the punching bag with alternate hits of her fists. "You seem to be…I don't know, kinda moody."

"No, I'm fine," Patrick replied shortly. "We just have a lot of work to do. Having to work on two albums is a lot harder than most people realize. Especially when you have to get ready for two tours as well."

"So you're taking it out on the guys?" Katie laughed lightly as she continued to hit the punching bag. "I knew that there was a reason I like you so much, apart from your sense of humor, of course." She waited to see if he would laugh or smile and when he did neither, she frowned, lowering her arms. "Oh come on, I'm giving you golden compliments here and you won't even take it?"

"Just concentrate on your hitting, please?" Patrick tilted his head to the side. "I mean, I knew that you could be a bit of a weakling, but this is just pathetic." He gave her a sweet smile.

Katie suddenly understood the meaning of the term 'seeing red' at that comment. Her upper lip curled as she turned back to her boyfriend. She pulled back a hand and punched him in the stomach as hard as she could. She blinked and stood up straight when Patrick didn't make a grunt or a move at all. He merely looked at her before scratching his stomach, waiting for her to say something. _What the? _This was definitely something different to Katie. She had punched James in the stomach twice and sent him on the verge of passing out both times. She had punched Kendall once and had been so afraid that she hurt him that she made a promise not to do it again. She punched Carlos and Logan and had quickly knocked them out with one hit, and she didn't even hit them that hard.

But this time…nothing.

Patrick looked at her and caught the stunned expression on her face. "Oh, was that supposed to hurt?" Katie nodded, her lips pressed into a thin line. "Sorry, ok, try again. I'll make it look like it hurt this time." He stepped out from behind the punching bag and gave her space to do as she pleased.

Katie let out a heavy sigh. "Ok, but then that's not fun," she whined. She pouted when Patrick stepped forward and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek.

"Then that's good for me," He replied.

"Don't sweat it," Jewel said as she walked over, wiping sweat off of her neck with a towel. "When it comes to Patrick, getting him off of your back is as easy as-"

"I can do it myself, thanks!" Katie snapped.

"Sorry, girl." Jewel held her hands up defensively. "Just trying to help out." She motioned over to Patrick before shoving him on the arm. "The best way to deal with his big ego is to inflate it with one quick jab of something sharp." She stepped around Katie and walked towards the other side of the room. Katie watched her go, frowning when she saw her say something to Ava and roll her eyes, shaking her head.

Katie turned back to Patrick, her frown deepening when she saw that he was looking at her with a raised eyebrow. "What?" she snapped.

"Nothing." Patrick pointed behind her. "But you mom's here and she looks like she needs to tell you something." Katie turned around to see Mrs. Knight walking over to them, a folded up piece of paper in her hand, looking that she was mad but anxious at the same time. "So what'd you do? Fail a test? Don't worry about that, I've failed plenty of them, it's no big deal."

"Shut up!" Katie hissed and turned back to her mother, as she stopped in front of her. "Hey mom, what are you doing here? Is something wrong?" She placed her hands on her hips and waited for her mother's answer. Mrs. Knight looked like she was about to say something, but wasn't sure how to say it. Katie raised an eyebrow, encouraging her mother to say something. "Did someone die or something?" A million thoughts ran through her head. Did someone get into a car accident? Did one of their friends get hurt? Was there someone else from their past that left them that they didn't know about? Was their father coming back? Katie glanced over her shoulder at Kendall and saw that he was slowing down on the treadmill, noticing their mother as well.

"No, but…" Mrs. Knight handed Katie the folded up sheet of paper. "You might want to see this." Her eyes moved over Big Time Rush before turning back to Katie again. "You all might want to see it."

Katie took it and looked it over, her eyes growing wide as she read the article...

* * *

**A/N: **Sorry these past couple of chapters have been so short and kinda lackluster. I haven't had a lot of time to get them up since I've been preparing to run a race and have been really tired, as well as looking for a job and getting prepared for my senior year of college.

The next ones will be longer as I'm getting back into the swing of things. Of course there'll be more drama coming up as well, especially since things that happen to one person have a way of leaking onto other people as they all talk to each other. I can say that starting with the next chapter, things are going to become really, _really_ dramatic.

Oh and you'll see more of the backup dancers starting with the next chapter as well. Um, oh yeah, some things that are mentioned in some chapters but aren't really shown is because the characters don't appear in that chapter/they don't have a big part in the chapter and because I have so many different storylines to go through, and I'm doing my best with it.

I'll update again soon.

Cheers,

-Riles


	12. Public Property

**.:Chapter 12:.**

* * *

"Sit, Yuma!" Katie commanded. She frowned as she looked down at the piglet. Yuma looked back up at her, making little snort sounds. She then looked away before starting to walk off. Katie grabbed onto her and set her back on the floor. "Yuma, sit!" This time she tried wagging her finger, but Yuma continued to look at her before walking off again. Katie let out a groan, sitting back on her heels. "Why won't she sit?"

"Because she's not a dog," Mrs. Knight replied from where she was sitting on the couch. She put down her magazine and let out a weary sigh, looking over at her daughter. She could tell that her daughter could care less if Yuma ended up becoming house trained. Everyone had given up at that point and just double checked where they were walking or else a pink, squealing, blur would come tearing away from you. "Katie, you know you're going to have to leave the apartment at some point."

"Not unless I have to," Katie replied stubbornly. She let out a loud sigh before getting to her feet and walking over to the couch. She flopped down on it and leaned into her mother's side, crossing her arms over her chest. Mrs. Knight smiled and put her arm around Katie's shoulders. "I'm too embarrassed, everyone keeps looking at me! Like they pity me!"

"Katie, you know that this isn't the way to deal with your first time having a rumor about you…or your relationship," Mrs. Knight said gently. "You can't just hide and act like it never happened." To prove her point, she reached out and grabbed the most recent published magazine of _PopTiger_ off of the table in front of her and opened it. She held the pages up to Katie and Katie let out a groan, turning her head away. She didn't have to look at it to know what it said, she had seen it enough times…her friends from Minnesota had been e-mailing and calling her about it, saying that they felt bad for what was going on. Even the guys were looking at her with pitying looks and Kendall's attempt at a 'don't let it get you down, it's just a rumor' pep talk made her want to curl up and die.

"I wish it didn't," Katie growled.

The article flashed through her head.

_Is it true that Patrick Jackson-McGuire had something going on with his backup dancer, Jewel Haggart? Maybe. Sources say that the two have been hanging out a lot more now that the backup dancers are in the US rather than the Land of Oz. But does that mean that the sibling duo of him and Katie Knight are over? No one knows for sure, but we're going to keep an eye out._

"You're lucky that you don't have to deal with something like this," Katie said. She grabbed the magazine from her mother, scowling at the article, before closing it. She tilted her head to the side, looking over the solo picture of Noah, as he had taken up the cover that month. "Though this is a good pic of No, I'm sure Lizz has it hanging on her wall with a giant heart around it."

Mrs. Knight laughed as she took the magazine and tossed it back onto the table. She let out a sigh, before starting to play with the ends of Katie's hair. The two were quiet for a long moment before she started to speak again. "You think that I haven't been in a magazine before? Not in a teenage magazine, I mean a real one. Like _People_ and _Us_ and _OK_ and _Women's and Men's Health_. Ones that focus on the 'celebrities' older than twenty five."

Katie's right eyebrow lowered. "But you're not a celebrity."

"But Ronan is," Mrs. Knight reminded her. "Most people don't realize that he is, indeed one. Because he's a music producer, and got his own company at such a young age, he's a bit of an entrepreneur too. Though he wouldn't tell anyone, he's worth a lot of money and that's all rom hard work, the kind of hard work that he's instilling in his kids. He's been in magazines and on gossip sites for _years_ even when he was first coming up in LA. He has a pretty famous family." She leaned closer to Katie, lowering her voice. "Did you know that, when he was fist working with the DarkElements, people thought that he had something going on with Riley and Rhuben?"

"Really?" Katie's eyes widened.

Mrs. Knight nodded, laughing a bit. "Yeah, he told me that because he would give them hugs and stuff and would be really friendly with them, now we know why, and people wanted to get pictures of him because he was gaining popularity quickly, they thought that there was something going on." Her smile widened. "It also didn'thelp that he thinks, though they won't admit it when he teases them about it, that the two of them had a crush on him when they were younger. After they stopped hating him, I mean."

Katie tilted her head back and laughed loudly. She brought her legs up onto the couch, turning towards her mother. She loved moments like this, when she was able to get one on one time with her mom, especially since they had moved out to LA. Ever since they first got out to LA, even before the guys were officially picked up by Rocque Records, she didn't feel like she ha anyone to talk to. Kendall had drifted away to hang out with his friends and many girlfriends, bringing James, Logan, and Carlos with him. And while she had found a friend in Lizzie, she was still somewhat lonely as she wasn't in the entertainment industry at all, so everyone was leaving her to do some random audition or appearance or in the Jacksons case, running around LA or Australia so many times over the year that she could barely keep their schedule straight.

Being able to hang out with her mother and just have some girl talk was something that she started to get used to it. At first she tried to shy away from it as much as possible, but soon got suckered in by the gossip that she could learn about her brother and his friends and other things that she wasn't old enough to hear before. Katie pushed her hair out of her face and smiled as she waited for her mother to continue.

"That's funny," Katie said. "But…how come he doesn't say anything?"

"Because he likes his privacy," Mrs. Knight explained. "And that's why he's always so quick to help out his kids when their news gets out in the business. Especially Riley and Rhuben, the industry is _really_ hard on girls and he, like their brothers, are really overprotective with them. It's sort of a double standard with the boys, but still. So when it comes to his own privacy, he nips it in the bud as soon as possible, just so things don't get bad for his kids by association."

"So what does this have to do with you?" Katie tilted her head to the side. She studied her mother carefully, suddenly looking at her for the very first time. She wasn't just her mother, she had a life of her own outside of being the boys' momager; but she would do everything she could to help the boys. But still…her mother didn't change her style from when she had been in Minnesota to when she had gone to Los Angeles. She still dressed the way she wanted, she still ruled everyone with a moderately iron fist, and she was able to do it all with a smile. Katie couldn't believe that she had tried to act that her mother's job was nothing, when it was really everything that kept Katie's day going. She definitely admired her for that.

"When I started dating Ronan last year, it got into the news pretty quickly," Mrs. Knight explained. "And his publicist warned him about the news going out in People two days before, so he got me prepared for it. He told me that there was going to be a picture of the two of us holding hands as we came out of some shopping store and that there was going to be a little blurb saying something along the lines of 'Music producer Ronan McGuire and his girlfriend are seen coming out of the mall, holding hands'. That was fine. But then when more people found out, it started to get more into our business. They wanted to know what I was wearing, they wanted to know how long we'd been together, some cameras started to follow us around. But the only reason that you guys didn't know was because we dealt with it professionally and quickly. Sometimes there's nothing we can do and we just let it happen. He's invited to many parties, many appearances, to collab on a lot of different projects, he's really popular, like _really_ popular in the music industry, but he would rather work when he can."

Katie gave a knowing smile. "You mean when he's not running around trying to keep the Jacksons out of trouble?"

"That too," Mrs. Knight agreed. Her smile faded a little. "But you know that they had a really hard time when they were growing up and they're still adjusting to living with Ronan, since they've only been there for two years now. But of course they have problems with authority. And, frankly, I think he likes having to run around after them, it's a change of pace for him."

_Yeah, I guess they were right when they told the guys that when they first met…_Katie nodded slowly. _They are a breath of fresh air. We didn't really know anything until we met them. Being abused was something that we saw in movies or heard of in the news; we didn't think that we'd meet anyone that it happened to. But now they're some of our best friends._

Mrs. Knight lightly tapped Katie on the nose with her index finger. "So what I really mean to say about all of this is that if you're feeling bad about this article, then you really need to figure out what you're upset about." She waited as Katie thought about her, her face slowly scrunching up to one of annoyance. "And if I'm not mistaken, you're a bit insecure about Patrick and Jewel and where you stand with the whole thing."

"No, duh!" Katie snapped. She crossed her arms over her chest, shaking her head. "It's not even that I'm jealous, because I'm _not_. I just…don't like the idea….what I mean is….I'm not…" she let out a huff, sinking deeper into the couch. "I don't know!"

"You say you're not jealous, but it's written all over your face," Mrs. Knight said gently. "I hate to say it, but us Knights have been cursed with the jealous gene. Your father was a bit of a jealous person, Kendall is a jealous person, I find myself being jealous at times, and now you're jealous."

"Well that would make a lot of sense." Katie snorted. "I mean Kendall flips out anytime a guy looks at Riles. I mean, even the PalmWoods mailman, the young one, gets him pissed. Brodie, her backup dancer, is twenty-one and has been with his girlfriend since they were fourteen, and he pisses Kendall off. And don't even get me started how jealous he gets whenever any of the Jacksons hang out with Dak and WayneWayne."

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but you were the same way when Patrick and Noah would hang out with Lizzie and you couldn't go or they just didn't invite you," Mrs. Knight reminded her.

Katie waved a hand. "It wasn't my proudest moments," she admitted. She tilted her head back and made a whining sound. With the back of her head rested against the couch, she rolled her head to the side to look at her mother. "Do I _really_ have to talk to Patrick? Can't I just send him a text or something?" Mrs. Knight laughed at the look on Katie's face and leaned forward, giving her a kiss on the forehead. "I'll take that as a yes?" Mrs. Knight nodded. "Great." Katie slapped her hands in her lap. "Fine, I'll go now."

Katie got off of the couch and went into her room to grab her shoes and phone. She sat down on the edge of her bed and started to pull on her shoes, looking over at the corkboard that she and her mother had put up to decorate the room as soon as they had gotten to the PalmWoods and had it made over to the crib. She wasn't much of a picture taker (at least before she met Lizzie) but there were a lot of them scattered over the corkboard. Her eyes moved over to the one that she, Patrick, Lizzie, and Noah had taken recently, smiling a little. Patrick had his arms around her shoulders and the two were smiling brightly. Lizzie was standing next to them, up on her tiptoes in a way to get taller than Noah, who had a slightly exasperated look on his face, though he was smiling too.

She looked at the picture one more time before grabbed her wallet and leaving the room. Her mother was watching TV and bid her goodbye as Katie headed towards the door. She heard a snorting sound as she pulled the door open and looked down to see Yuma sniffing at her heels. "Sit, Yuma!" Yuma let out another squeal and ran over to the couch, jumping up onto it and resting in Mrs. Knight's lap, looking at her warily. Katie laughed and shook her head. "Figures. See ya, mom!"

Katie left the PalmWoods and waited for the shuttle to come around so that it would take her to the bus stop. She could have called the guys to take her to the Jacksons' house, but she didn't want to take them away from Gustavo. She was just as excited about their new album coming up than the guys were, she loved being one of the first people to hear their new music. When _Elevate _had come out and Kendall got her an advanced copy, it had gotten almost completely scratched from play in almost two days time, she loved it that much. So while she knew that they would probably be begging her to save them rom Gustavo at some point, she was going to give them all the time they needed to make a album even greater than the last one.

When the shuttle dropped her off at the bus stop, it was perfect timing as her bus just pulled up. She climbed on, told the driver where she needed to go, and waited, listening to her iPhone as the bus took her to her stop. When she got there, she got off and waited for the bus to pull away before starting to walk down the sidewalk, coming up towards the neighborhood. She couldn't help but feel a little envious of the extravagance of them. They had only been in the mansion in Bel-Air for what felt like a minute, and the guys had to go and mess things up for them to be run out of the neighborhood. Though she was sure that her fight over lemons with Fabio had something to do with it. A tiny bit, but part of it. But that was the goal that she set for herself. When she made enough money after starting up her own business, she was going to buy herself and her mother a house like that. Where they weren't stepping on each other's toes when they walked out of the room, so she didn't have to continue living with four teenage guys that didn't seem to have a clue when it came to having personal space and how to treat a girl. Not…that she was weak or anything. But she wanted to be treated nicer sometimes.

Katie was so lost in her thoughts that she almost walked by the Jacksons' house. She quickly doubled back before going up the front porch and ringing the doorbell. A second later, she knocked on the door. She waited, holding her hands behind her back, rocking on her heels, as she waited for the door to open.

"Hey Katie," Ronan greeted her with a warm smile. He let her into the house. "C'mon in." He turned to look at her as he closed the door behind her. His green eyes showed warmth as well as a bit of concern. "I'm assuming that you're here for Patrick? You haven't been around much lately from what I can tell." He shrugged. "He should be in the den watching TV," he said before walking away, disappearing into another part of the house.

And that was what Katie really liked about Ronan. The fact that he had a way of wanting to know what was going on with someone, but not prying too much if they didn't want to say anything. He usually waited for someone to come to him to talk, since he didn't like to push people, though he was curious, it definitely was the best way to go. Unlike Gustavo, who practically demanded that you tell him everything whenever something was getting in the way of his work.

Katie walked to the den and spotted Patrick sitting on the floor on a pile of pillow, his glasses on his face and his laptop resting on the floor between his feet. He barely looked at her as she entered the room. Nonetheless, Katie gave him a smile and a wave as she walked over to him. He didn't smile back. Not that she was surprised, Ronan was right when he said that she hadn't been around in a while, after Mrs. Knight had shown her the article about her and Jewel and Patrick, she had locked herself in the apartment and she hadn't come out in days. She hadn't talked to Patrick at all, she barely talked to Noah, and she changed the subject with Lizzie whenever she tried to talk about either of them.

"How's it going?" Katie placed her hands inside her jeans pockets.

"Not bad," Patrick said shortly, his eyes still on the TV screen. He flipped the remote in his hands. "Just getting some things ready for the surgery that Ronan is having this weekend. Other than that, I've just been around." He changed the channel a few times before rolling his eyes and turning up the volume on the video that was playing on MTV. Katie winced and moved further into the room, closer to him, as the music was too loud. "But you haven't, obviously."

Katie winced. She let out a sigh through her nose. "Can we talk?"

"What's there to talk about?" Patrick turned off the TV before using his foot to close his laptop. He stood up and started to throw the pillows back onto the couch. It was then that Katie suddenly noticed that the room was clean, a lot cleaner than it normally was. The Jacksons weren't neat freaks to say the least, and even Ronan was fine with an organized mess. Usually there were magazine and plates and cups sitting all over the place, not it was eerie how picked up it was. It didn't help that she could feel Patrick's anger. "A stupid article came out, you believe it without even a second of thought and avoid me like I killed your dog or something."

"I don't have a dog," Katie denied._ Bad idea. _Katie looked at her feet as Patrick shot a glare her way. _Should have just let him have that one. _"But I did want to talk."

"What made you want to do it now?" Patrick continued to throw pillows around. "Did your guilt finally catch up to you? Or did you start to feel stupid over thinking that something was going on with me and Jewel?" He glanced at her. "You don't have to answer that question, by the way."

"Why?" Katie had asked in a low voice, now afraid to say anything in case she said something wrong.

"Because I already know the answer," Patrick walked out of the den and Katie followed him. "It was written all over your face when you walked in. You saw the magazine article, decided that something as stupid as that was true and didn't even bother trying to talk to me about it at all. Because if you did, then you'd know that Ronan's publicist has already called _PopTiger _and threatened them for defamation saying that they can only post articles about our relationships only when they have a direct quote from him or one of us." He shrugged. "I seriously doubt that's gonna stop them, but still." He scratched the side of his jaw. "I have more important thigns to worry about anyway."

"I-I'm sorry," Katie apologized quickly. She ran a hand through her hair. "But we can talk now, I just wanted to say that I don't really believe any of it, I'm just-"

"Get out," Patrick said. Katie gasped lightly, looking over at him. He was looking hard at her, while pointing to the front door. Katie's eyebrows lowered as she watched him, waiting. Waiting for him to smile or laugh and make a joke or to do something that would show that he wasn't being serious. But he continued to look hard at her, his lips pressed into a thin line.

"B-but I-"

"I don't want to talk to you right now! Ok?!" Patrick walked over to the front door and yanked it open with a sharp tug of his hand. He turned his head away so she didn't have to see the look on Katie's face.

Katie closed her mouth, dropping her gaze to the floor. She took a deep breath, trying to force down the urge to cry, but didn't make it. Tears were already welling up in her eyes and she knew that she wouldn't be able to stop them once they started. She had never seen Patrick look so angry, he could be upset or mad and then change the subject, make a joke, or find a way to channel his frustration, but she had never seen him mad. Not at her, not at the boys, not even at her brothers and sisters. Katie blinked and tears from her eyes.

_Oh great. _She quickly wiped them away.

"I'm not going to ask again," Patrick warned.

The fierceness in his tone shocked her. Katie swallowed thickly before ducking her head and quickly walked out of the house. She winced when she heard the door slam behind her and started to cry harder. She dropped down onto the porch step and whipped her phone from her pocket, trying to figure out who to call. Logan would probably be too busy on his phone to answer, Carlos wouldn't be able to help, Kendall would probably threaten Patrick, which would make things worse, and that just left James. She knew that he would at least listen to her with an open mind, wanting to hear the whole story before thinking rationally. He could be like a big brother to her, but at least he was able to take her seriously and not jump to conclusions.

"James?" Katie ran her arm across her eyes, trying to stop crying. "Can you come pick me up? Please?"

* * *

"Yo," Noah greeted Sydney as he walked into his baby brother's room.

"Yo, yo," Sydney replied, his eyes on his computer screen. He smiled when he heard Riley and Rhuben give the greeting as well. He turned away from his computer, sitting Indian style in his chair, and watched as Noah closed the bedroom door and sat on the bed next to his sisters. "Did they stop fighting?"

"It's not much of a fight if it's one-sided," Riley commented from where she was lying on her stomach, her chin in her hands, lightly kicking her feet so her heels hit her butt with each kick. "Trust me, I would know." She smiled a little as Rhuben, Noah, and Sydney laughed. "Besides, you're only glad he came because it somewhat takes the attention off of you."

Sydney sighed loudly, rolling his eyes. "I already apologized for not telling you guys that I was thinking about going home, ok?" He crossed his arms over his chest, pouting a little as his shoulders slumped.

He really _was _sorry that he didn't tell them.

Sometimes he didn't think how hard everything was for _him. _He was the youngest out of all of them, his brothers and sisters got most of the attention, not that he even wanted a lot of it anyway, and he was the only one out of all of them that didn't remember their parents at all. He was the one that had to sit back and watch as his brothers and sisters got in trouble day after day because they were acting out their anger and frustration over their death. He got in trouble too, he stopped doing schoolwork, he did petty shoplifting, he talked back to his teachers, but it didn't affect him so bad that his whole life was in an uproar. That is, it wasn't until Robert had adopted them. Then he had figure out how they were going to live to see the next day, what was the best way to get out of the house if Robert was still there, what was the best way to keep him from getting angry. Then there were the songs that he had to produce after Robert had realized how gifted he was, the hours he put in with Ronan trying to help him as much as possible, being pushed o the brink during dance rehearsals, having to spend two years of his life on tour (not consecutively), all of that and he didn't complain too much.

He willingly helped his brothers and sisters when they needed it, the same with his friends, and there were many times that he had felt ignored by his friends, not realizing that he wasn't just a little brother that tagged along with them. He was a part of MENSA and had the tests and research projects to prove it, some of which he was still working on through video chats. All of that was weighing on him, but he did his best to keep from letting his own problems get in the way of their happiness.

It was a curse, but it was something that all of them did.

"I just didn't want you to be mad," He continued.

"And we already told you, Little Man, that we _aren't_ mad," Rhuben said slowly. She cracked her fingers. "It was only a matter of time until we started thinking about college and everything, so the fact that you were thinking of leaving the band wasn't too much of a shock."

Sydney's lips curled into a smirk. "Liar," he contradicted. He ran a hand through his hair. Though attention was always something that he wanted, he was a bit unnerved by the fact that he _was_ getting it. Especially since it was for a reason that he wished he didn't have to announce in the first place. _Like that's the only thing that you're keeping from them. _He mentally rolled his eyes, trying now to openly grimace.

"You just caught us by surprise, no worries," Noah reassured him calmly.

_Yeah, right. _Sydney turned back to his computer to continue looking over his research paper. He looked at Noah out of the corner of his eye, smiling a little. "Did you hear anything good with Patrick and Katie?"

"No," Noah crossed his arms over his chest, looking disappointed, mimicking the looks on Riley's and Rhuben's faces. "Patrick didn't really let her say anything. Otherwise, I think we would have heard some really juicy stuff."

"Do you really mean 'juicy' or 'stupid'?" Rhuben asked him. She then twitched her eyebrows up. "Never mind, for Pat, that usually goes hand in hand." She, Riley, and Noah laughed and she and Noah bumped fists. Riley held her hands over her mouth before she openly laughed with them as well.

"Ha ha." Patrick laughed tonelessly as he walked into the room. "That's _so_ funny."

"Lighten up, Pattycackes, you can't be mad at her forever," Riley said, moving to make room for him on Sydney's bed.

"I think I can, Ri-bread," Patrick returned, sitting down in the empty seat. "Anyway, I don't want to talk about it." He pulled a envelope out of his pocket and handed it over to Sydney, who looked at him curiously. "I'd rather talk about this."

Sydney slowly took the envelope and looked over the front and the return address before flipping it over. "It must be important, it's from Oz." He laughed lightly. "Hey, maybe it's a nomination for the Nobel peace prize." His brothers and sisters waited patiently as Sydney opened the letter. "It's about Dad," he said, his eyebrows twitching.

"Dad dad or Ronan dad?" Rhuben asked for clarification.

"Dad-dad," Sydney replied slowly. He lifted his head to look at his brothers and sisters. "They want me to present an award in his name."

* * *

**A/N: **I change my mind on chapters too much, I can never really make up my mind about how I want them to go (a little bit of a lot of characters/story lines or a lot of a little bit of characters/story lines). But this is the first bit of drama that you see and a lot more is coming up. I wanted to do a chapter on Mrs. Knight and Katie because I wanted to show them bonding a bit more. And Sydney's small part is to further his own plot as well as show more of his parents and Julius when it gets to it.

Also, for those wondering, it's possible that we could start _Big Time Boarding School _again. We just found out that in 2011 it was nominated for the best friendship story in the 2011 BTR Fanfic awards and we really did like the fic, but just lost inspiration. So, yeah, it could potentially be brought up again, even if only one of us is writing it and it's updated slowly. Or maybe completely re-done because there was a lot of things that didn't make sense. We haven't decided yet.

Umm, also, we cleaned out our profile a bit, deleting old stories that didn't make sense or just weren't that good. Oh and Rhu and I are going to start (trying) to do a split of stories that have Dak, WayneWayne, and Lizzie, and those that don't because we know that there are people that prefer our stories with just BTR, DE, (and Jo, Camille, and Stephanie if they appear) and people that prefer ones with everyone.

I'll update again soon.

Cheers,

-Riles


	13. We Are

**.:Chapter 13:.**

* * *

Kendall looked over his shoulder as he walked around the side of the abandoned building. When he was sure the coast was clear, he grabbed onto the metal ladder that was resting against the building and climbed up carefully, trying not to make too much noise with each pass over the rungs. He looked up to see how much further he had to go, the light of the moon illuminating his face. Once he reached the top, he swung his leg onto the roof and pulled himself up, going slowly, crouching down a little bit. He walked over to the edge of the building, glancing over his shoulder once more. Kendall looked down at the pool below him, the blue water being reflected in a light blue glow across his face. He took off his drawstring bag and carefully dropped it onto a pool chair below. He then shifted a few spaces to the right and jumped off of the edge of the roof, landing on a large stack of foam pool rafts that had been set up to cushion his fall.

Kendall landed with a soft thud and sat up, shaking out his hair. "Hey." Kendall swung his flip-flopped feet to the pool deck. He turned to Riley, who was sitting at the edge of the pool, one of her feet in the water, the other up to her chest. When he spoke, she turned her head and gave him a wide smile before getting up from the side of the pool. Kendall kicked off his flip-flops before turning to her. He was surprised when she wrapped her arms around his waist and gave him a tight hug. Kendall returned the hug before looking down at her.

"Everything ok?" He asked gently.

"Yeah." Riley pushed some of her hair over her ear. "Can't I be happy to see my boyfriend?" Kendall studied her, noticing that she sounded a bit defensive, but didn't dwell on it. "So what'd you ask me over here for? I doubt that you wanted to just take a dip, you sounded kinda funny on the ph-"

Kendall leaned down and pressed his lips against Riley's, cutting her off. He placed his hands on her cheeks and angled his head to the side, kissing her again. Riley slid her fingers through the belt loops on his jeans and pulled him closer to her as she kissed him back with as much enthusiasm. She was smirking when he pulled away.

"Wow, Hockey-Head, they weren't kidding about what they say about Scorpios," she said, her eyes sparkling.

"I coulda told you that," Kendall replied. He pulled away from Riley and walked over to the stack of pool rafts and grabbed one off of the top. "Sorry, I just really wanted to do that, we hadn't been able to spend a lot of time together lately." He walked over to the pool and threw it onto the water. "What with having to work on our albums and everything."

Riley raised an eyebrow as she tilted her head to the side. "You're not still annoyed of my whole not mixing business with pleasure thing are you?" She watched, slightly unconvinced, as he shook his head.

When the two had started casually dating Riley had made it perfectly clear that she wasn't the kind of girl that would be distracted from her work and the two agreed that if their relationship and friendship was going to work, their friends, family, and jobs came first as they were the most important things in their lives. So whenever they were at Blazing Phoenix or Rocque Records they just acted like they were friends when they were working, but whenever they got a break, that was a different story. Who was to say that they didn't steal kisses whenever Gustavo's back was turned? It was romantic in a risk-taking way. But it was what worked for them, if they were at appearances or working at the studio or in situations where they had to be professional, they were professional. It was also the reason that, for a long time, she had been adamant about not dating in the music industry. But after having dated so many people that weren't in the industry before she met Big Time Rush, having some of them use her, and not knowing if others only wanted to date her for her fame, she changed her mind about it and was more open to the idea of dating in the industry. But be that as it may, she hadn't had a, what she said, 'honest to God boyfriend' or been on a 'honest to God' date since she was about fifteen or sixteen, and she and Kendall didn't date until they were eighteen. There was this one brief moment that she kinda-sorta went out with WayneWayne, but that was hard to decipher.

"No, it makes sense, and it's probably what makes you guys so successful," Kendall said. "The fact that you guys know when to be serious when it comes to work, but how to be able to have fun with that too, all while being serious is something that we really admire about you guys." He took off his shirt and jeans so that he was in his underwear before diving into the pool. He swam over to the raft and rested his arms on it as he waited for Riley to strip down to her underwear and jump in too.

She pushed her wet hair behind her ears as she treaded water over to him and pulled her upper body onto the raft as well. Kendall leaned forward and wrapped his forearms around hers. "So what are you talking about then?" Riley's eyebrows were lowered as she looked at him seriously. He recognized the look quickly, if he tried to deny that anything was wrong, it would just mean trouble for him, since he knew how perceptive he could be.

"Well, we don't know if Griffin is going to renew our contracts with Big Time Rush," Kendall explained. "And while we're waiting to see what happens with that and working on our new album, we're also trying to figure out what's gonna happen if Big Time Rush does end."

Riley snorted. "Do you _really_ think that you guys are going to end?" Kendall looked at her curiously. "You guys are one of the most popular pop bands out there right now, Griffin would be fucked if he let you guys go."

"Still, we don't know what's going to happen so we've all been thinking about what we're going to do," Kendall continued. He licked his lips before running a hand through his wet hair. "And…one of my friends from back home, Dustin, before we came out here, for a while, he and I would make music together."

"And you said that you didn't like to sing," Riley reminded him. Kendall smiled a little.

It felt like just yesterday that he was sitting in his mother's living room, listening as Gustavo told him that he wanted to take Kendall out to LA to make some demos for a new act to try and make it big. Kendall denied enjoying singing at all, and that was only because he wasn't going to give up his dream of becoming a hockey player that easily. But, deep, deep, deep down it was an opportunity that he was excited for. He learned long ago that when an opportunity presented itself to you, you usually jumped on it the first change you got, but he had still been hesitant about it.

"I was just kidding myself, apparently," Kendall replied. "Anyway, we used to make some music together and what with what's going on with our band, we were thinking of starting it up again." He shrugged. "We don't really know what it means yet, all I know is that it's a really good opportunity and now is probably the best chance to do it."

"So what does this have to do with me?" Riley's lips curled up into another smirk as she tilted her head to eh side again. "I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm flattered that you value my opinion that much…" Kendall laughed. "But…you seem like you were hesitant to tell me."

"That's because I'm probably not going to have as much time for us if this really takes off and he comes to LA so we can get started on Heffron Drive, that's what we called our duo, by the way," Kendall explained. "I mean, we're already in a sort of, semi-long distance relationship because your career is mainly based in Australia, but I don't-"

"What? Do you think I'll drop you if we can't spend a lot of time together?" Riley frowned. "I've been in a long distance relationship before, I know it's hard, but if the two people in the relationship are mature enough to handle it, then things'll be fine." She gave an exaggerated pout. "You don't think it'll work?"

"No, it's just…" Kendall trailed off, wondering if he should tell her about his opportunity about hockey too that would make things even harder if he did make the team. He wasn't even sure if he was going to take it yet, so what was the point of bringing it up. "It's just an idea. And I don't even know if it's going to happen. We still have time before we have to figure it out, who knows what the future holds, right?"

"Good answer," Riley replied with a lift of her right eyebrow. "I was afraid I was going to have to punch you in the face."

Kendall's eyes flashed. "You're going to have to catch me to do that." He pushed backwards away from the raft and took a deep breath before diving under the surface of the water. Riley rolled her eyes, giving him a minute before taking a breath and sinking under the water as well. She watched to see which part of the pool that Kendall was swimming to before she glided over, boxing him into a corner. When he surfaced, she swept her arm, sending a wave of water over him.

Kendall sputtered, shaking out his hair before Riley sent another wave of water his way. Laughing, he held an arm up over his face, waiting for her arms to get tired. When she slowed down, he quickly turned back around, splashing her back. Riley let out a mixture of a shriek and a laugh, shielding her eyes from the water. Kendall ducked back under the water and lifted Riley onto his back in a piggyback ride, which was made easier in the water.

"So what do you think'll happen?" Kendall asked as he slowly treaded water across the pool. Riley's arms were loosely draped over his shoulders and around his neck, her chin resting on her shoulder, her legs wrapped around him.

"God, do we _have_ to talk about the future?" Riley snapped. "It's the future for a reason; no one is supposed to know what's going to happen! "

"Yeah, but if you don't at least prepare for it, it's going to be a painful reality check," Kendall reminded her.

"That's the thing," Riley said enigmatically. "I can handle pain until it hurts."

_Great_. Kendall grimaced.

* * *

"So we have a couple of lanes at Bowla Bowla rented out so that we can use them as long as we want," Jo said, placing her fork down on her paper plate, pushing it away from her. "And the cool thing is that we have it for a time where we can go glow bowling, or whatever it's called." She reached out and grabbed onto her glass of soda and took a sip. "And since Rockaraoke is in the same building, right next door, we're going to do that too."

"Awesome!" Sydney stabbed his spoon into the banana that rested in his banana split, cutting it in half. "I can't wait, I love bowling." He scooped some ice cream and a cherry into his mouth along with the banana. "I bet I can beat you, too!" He added, pointing his spoon over to James.

"Your scrawny little arms going against these guns?" James raised his arms and flexed his muscles to prove his point. "I don't think so!"

Noah rolled his eyes. There were many times that he wondered if James really was that vain, but he knew him well enough to know that half the time, it was just a way to hide all of the insecurities that he had pushed deep down. So deep that there were times that it seemed like he didn't care about anyone but himself, but that was obviously not true. "Seriously, JD, I don't think there's ever a time where you're not confident."

"No, not really," James agreed after thinking about it for a moment. "I guess that's my best quality." He pointed a finger over at Noah. "And don't forget that if it weren't for me, your confidence levels wouldn't be so high."

"And if it weren't for that, I wouldn't be confident enough to do this." Noah smirked as he lifted both of his hands, flipping him off. James and Jo laughed as Sydney poked Noah in the side and flashed his index and middle fingers twice, signaling that he had to put four dollars in the potty mouth jar. It was what their family had set up to try and curb them on their use of foul language. Sydney was the only one that was able to keep from having to put money in the jar.

"Do you guys _really _want to celebrate your one year anniversary with all of us?" Noah asked. He finished his bite of pizza before wiping his fingers off with a napkin. He tossed it down onto his plate and crossed his legs. A gentle breeze blew his hair off of his forehead. "I mean, it's an anniversary for a reason, aren't you supposed to celebrate by yourselves or something?"

"Apparently Jo's need for attention comes from dating James for too long," Sydney remarked, causing everyone to start laughing. James, Jo, Noah, and Sydney were out for lunch in town, during the lunch break that Gustavo had given them. They all had songwriting workshops that day and it didn't seem that things were going well for them. No one had finished a song and Big Time Rush had started one, but continued to start over each time they couldn't agree on something. So the break that they were taking from each other was nothing short of needed.

"I resent that," James said, although he was smiling. "We just thought that it would be cool if we celebrated with all of our friends, no problems with that."

"Oh yeah, it's just for the attention," Noah said.

"Or just because they're young and dumb," Sydney remarked.

Jo pushed her hair out of her face with her free hand, the other holding onto James's hand. "Well, lately, it seems like it's the only thing that we can do with everyone, since we're all so busy. You guys are working on your albums, I've been auditioning, and everyone else has been doing their own things too."

"How are you auditions going, anyway?" Noah crossed his arms over his chest as he leaned back in his seat. He lowered his sunglasses enough so that he was able to look at her, but still have his eyes shaded. "You don't really talk about it much, or New Town High, for that matter."

Jo frowned. It wasn't that she didn't want to talk about her auditions; it was just that things were really embarrassing for her. Especially when it was compared to how James was doing. The fact that she was an actress now, and not a singer, was something that she wondered if it was really a good idea. When she was steadily on New Town High, before leaving the show to go to New Zealand, she got auditions galore and booked a lot of them. But now that she was back and was starting on New Town High as a recurring character again testing the audiences to see how they liked her character being back, her auditioning process wasn't going that well. So far she had only booked a few commercials, and that was only the parts where she was the main person's best friend, or her face was only shown once, or she was in the background. Compared to James, it was terrible. After getting headshots done from Rhuben, he started to go out on the auditioning circuit as well, just so he would know how to handle possibly transitioning from being in a band to a new area of interest. And he managed to book a few of them. Jo was happy for him when she heard about it, there was no doubt about that, but it still made her feel bad at times.

Especially since James would talk about it as if it was nothing. He continued to talk about going solo and what his future was going to hold for him if the band didn't keep going, and it was starting to get on her nerves. She could understand why he was focusing on it, but it was getting to the point where it was obsessive and it was getting on her last nerve.

"Ah, things are going fine," Jo said with a wave of her hand. "I'm just getting back into the swing of things, y'know?" She shielded her face from the sun. "How are things going with you guys? Are you making any progress on your CD?"

"Of course they are!" James rolled his eyes. "They make working on a new album look so easy, it's not even funny." He sat up straight, shaking his head. "They already have hundreds of songs to choose from that didn't make their last albums as well as ones that they're working on now."

Sydney gave an impish smile. "Now you're making my head swell." He looked nonchalant. "Though, it wouldn't make a big difference because it's already filled with my brains." He smiled as James, Jo, and Noah started laughing. James couldn't help but notice that Sydney's smile faded a little bit, but he looked happier than he had seen him the past couple of days. "Other than that, we're getting ready to do the music video for our song _Blue and Yellow_ the re-mastering of that was really easy." His eyes lit up as he sat up straight. "Which should be really cool, because I get to show off my piano skills."

"Ooh! Maybe you could do a song or something at our anniversary party?" Jo suggested. James nodded in agreement.

"How about, instead, you get some vocals on our new album?" Noah asked. He gave a half smile as Jo's eyes lit up in excitement. She even started to kick her feet and slap James repeatedly on the arm in her excitement. "Wow, if you freak out about this, I bet you're gonna pass out when you get into the studio."

"Are you being completely serious?" Jo asked, holding up her hands. "You better not be toying with my feelings or else I'm going to kill you guys!" She clasped her hands together, letting out what sounded like a cross between a whine and a squeal.

"We're being completely serious," Noah replied. "There's a song that we've had for a while that we haven't put on an album that we think that your voice would be perfect for. It's called _View from Heaven _and we have Dak on it too, he's already done his vocals. We tried having Riley and Rhuben on the parts with him, and while they have amazing vocal ranges, the tone to their voices, in general, is too deep for it. And we think that you'd be perfect."

"Oh! Thanks so much, guys!" Jo leaned across the table and gave Noah and Sydney a big hug and a kiss on the cheek, causing Sydney to beam and Noah to blush, lowering his eyes. "I love you all _so much_ you don't even know! I have to find a way to make it up to you guys."

"Well, you probably never will, so don't worry about it." Noah smiled.

"That's really cool," James grinned. He then started to draw little circles on Jo's thigh with his index finger. "I wish I was on the album too."

"You might be," Sydney replied mysteriously. "You never know." He looked at his watch. "Hey, we should be getting back to the studio."

James nodded and lifted a hand, waving for the check. When it reached the table, he pulled out his wallet and grabbed the bill looking it over. It wasn't too bad. He looked up at Noah and the younger teen pulled out his own wallet, handing over a twenty dollar bill and a five dollar bill. James matched it with his own and the two placed it in the checkbook before leaving a tip. The group got up from the table and started to walk back to Jo's car.

"We were planning on telling you as an anniversary gift," Sydney said to Jo as he reached out and grabbed onto her hand, swinging their arms back and forth. "But then figured out that it would be better if we give you the other idea we had in mind as your gift and tell you about being on the album."

"And everyone's ok with this?" Jo wanted to be sure. She felt like pinching herself, but was afraid to do it in case it really was a dream.

"It was Ronan's idea and we all immediately agreed to it when we thought about it," Sydney explained. "And, like you know, we like to help our friends and we've helped Steph and Camille, and we wanted to do something big to help you too."

"Thank you!" Jo leaned over and gave him a hug.

"You're welcome, Joey."

James and Noah trailed behind Jo and Sydney as they went to the car, walking a bit slower. "So you're thinking about going solo?" Noah asked. James almost missed his question; he was so deep in thought. "Like, that's really want you want to do?"

"Yes," James replied slowly. "I mean, it sounds really selfish, but…I need to know if I can do it on my own. Kendall was the one that Gustavo wanted, and even though I'm glad for this opportunity that hurt more than I thought it would. I mean, I love the guy, he's my brother, but I just need to see if Gustavo was wrong when he chose Kendall over me."

Noah nodded.

"And, it's still a dream of mine," James said. "Not the fame, not anymore. But to be able to touch as many people as I can, as we have with Big Time Rush, I want to be able to relate to a big group of people, doing what I love."

"I get what you mean," Noah agreed. "Just a piece of advice though." He flipped his hair out of his face. "Don't forget who your friends are when you get to the top." He gave a half smile. "Because whether you're in Big Time Rush or by yourself, I know that you're going to go far with it."

"Thanks Mouse." James smiled.

"You're welcome, JD."

"So, are you going to tell me what's bothering you or what?" James's question stopped Noah in his tracks. "By now, I know when something's bothering you, what's up?" He raised his right eyebrow, lowering his left one. "Does it have to do with Syd?" Noah shook his head. "Ronan?" Noah shrugged. "What happened?"

Noah let out a heavy sigh. "Ronan got surgery on his Achilles tendon today, in fact, he should probably be getting out of surgery in the next hour," he added, looking at his watch, a troubled look coming over his face.

"Why didn't you go?" James asked. Noah gave him a look and James laughed a little. "I know, stupid question. What I meant was why didn't you guys say anything about it? You're all probably freaking out."

"For the same reason that we didn't want to go," Noah dismissed. "Besides, Julius and Brittany are there and they can handle him until he gets home." He shuddered, even though it was warm out. "I just…I don't know, I don't think I can ever go there again. That's why we tried our hardest to tend to our own injuries when Robert was still around."

"Don't worry about it, dude," James placed a hand on Noah's shoulder. "If you ever need help, you know that we're always around when you need us."

"I know," Noah agreed. "It's just…eventually we're going to have to stop relying on each other all the time, y'know?" Noah faced forward again as they reached the car, moving to get into the back seat. James walked around to the passenger seat of the car.

_Yeah, I know_.

* * *

Carlos took a deep breath as he approached the apartment. He didn't have a lot of time left on his lunch break, but he needed to get this done or else he wouldn't ever have the courage to do it. He slowed to a stop and looked at the number on the door. 10K. All of a sudden, his hands filled with sweat and he wiped them off on the side of his jeans. Finally, he steeled himself, and reached out, knocking on the door. He didn't have to wait long for it to open.

"Carlos," Mr. King greeted him.

"Mr. King," Carlos replied, looking him in the eye.

"Come in." Mr. King took a step back to allow the teenager into the apartment. "Stephanie's not here, she's working with your friends," he said, closing the door behind Carlos. Carlos knew that, they had gone to Rocque Records to work that day. His heart had leapt when he saw Stephanie and gave her a warm smile and a wave. She responded warmly, even though they were still a bit distant from each other. She didn't have to say anything for Carlos to know that their breakup was hard on her though she was trying her best not to show it. She always dove into her work when she tried not to think about what was bothering her.

"I know," Carlos replied slowly. "I talked to them earlier and they mentioned it." He didn't want to say that he and Steph were actually working together that day; he didn't want her father to get any angrier with them. "But I came to talk to you."

"About what?" Mr. King walked over to the couch and sat down. He ran a hand over his beard before cleaning his glasses. "Actually, I'm sure I know the answer to that question. I'm sorry, Carlos, but I think that you two are getting too close and she needs to-"

"What she needs is someone that'll always be there to care for her," Carlos interrupted. He surprised himself with his bravado, but he needed to get it off his chest. "And that's me. You're not always going to be there. Yes, we love each other very much, and yeah, sometimes I can get caught up in that. But I'm always going to be sure that your daughter, who is an amazing person, gets what she deserves. I only have her best interest at heart."

"You may have her best interest at heart, but you don't understand her," Mr. King said slowly. "You don't understand what's she's about. She's a real family person, her mother, brother, and we understand what's best for her. And right now, her mother and I don't think that a boyfriend is right for her, especially since you guys have become so close so fast."

Carlos tried not to laugh out loud. It was funny that them becoming close so fast was what bothered Mr. King. Out of all of their friends, he and Stephanie were the only ones that didn't, for the most part, have any dating drama. There was no one else that they were interested in besides each other, they didn't have many secrets from each other, they didn't ever cheat on each other nor had the urge to. They were the only couple that had been together from the very beginning since they met. And now that's what caused them to break up.

"I think that you're making a big mistake," Carlos said honestly.

"Oh really?" Mr. King looked interested.

"Really." Carlos nodded. "What Steph and I have is really special and we really care about each other. Even if we didn't date at all, I know that we would be best friends, and we are each other's best friend, even if we are dating. I can be crazy at times and she's really calm and that's a good match for me. And just because we're nineteen doesn't mean that we don't know how we feel."

"And that's the problem." Mr. King leaned forward and rested his arms on his legs, looking seriously at Carlos. "Your feelings. I think you're getting too close. I think that it's not healthy how often you two see each other and how often you're around each other."

"I don't care." Carlos shook his head.

"Pardon?" Mr. King looked a little angry, but not overly worried about it.

"I don't care what you have to say about it," Carlos reiterated. "I don't care what you think about our relationship. Stephanie and I love each other and there's not really anything that you can do to keep us apart." He licked his lips. "I'm going to get her back and we're going to continue dating for as long as she wants to be with me."

He studied Mr. King, losing a little bit of his confidence when a vein started to throb in the man's forehead. He had seen that vein throb before, he was very angry. He had seen it when he thought there really was a PalmWoods ghost and when he found out that Stephanie had thrown a party in their apartment when he wasn't there. Of course he would have been even more pissed if he found out that Carlos had been drunk and slept over at the apartment, so Carlos was glad he didn't know about that or he would have been completely banned from seeing her.

"I really wish that you would respect what I had to say about the matter," Mr. King stood up and motioned towards the door. "But my decision still stands."

"And I wish that you would respect me and your daughter," Carlos replied. "And realize that I care about her as much as you do and that it's not a bad thing or something to be scared about." He nodded once. "It was good talking to you, Mr. King." Carlos left the apartment and went over to the elevator to get to the bottom floor of the PalmWoods.

He had to get back to the studio so the guys could finish their song.

_Thinking, we don't want to get caught up in over thinking  
We only got tonight  
Moments, we gotta keep on living for these moments,  
Cause this is our time_

_Life's too short to sit and wait  
For love to come our way  
Light it up like fireworks  
I wanna hear you say _

_We are we are  
We are alive  
And we have the light shining down_

_We are we are  
We are the reckless  
You can hear us drowning of the sound _

_We are we are  
Young and dumb  
Always chasing something_

_We are we are  
Hearts like drums  
You can hear us coming  
We are we are_

* * *

**A/N: **Whoo, got another chapter done! I told you that the ones that are based on songs/inspiration for the songs are gonna be kinda short and that was done here. I really liked being able to show Noah and Sydney's friendship with James and Jo since I rarely ever show it. Of course I also really liked Carlos's part.

If you guys didn't get it, We Are is about BTRs and DEs friendship. Especially when it comes to the fact that they're not always going to be able to help each other or go on tour together or go to appearances together the bigger they get. (And since DE are really big in Australia and other places in the world, they can't always do things with BTR, especially when they're not in the US). Funny enough, a couple of the songs on 24seven we can easily see as being about BTRs and DEs friendship.

I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter! :D It'll be updated again on Tuesday.

Cheers,

-Riles


	14. Serious Conversations

**.:Chapter 14:.**

* * *

Ronan sighed in frustration as he looked at the plate sitting on the counter in front of him, trying to figure out how he was going to pick it up and hold onto his crutches at the same time. He shifted a step forward, being careful to balance the crutches in his armpits before he slowly reached out his right hand, testing how far he could move it. The right crutch shifted precariously, but he managed to grab the paper plate in his hand. He slowly shifted backwards before lifting the plate up to his mouth and grabbing onto it with his teeth.

Shifting to the side, Ronan grabbed onto his crutches and swung them forward, starting to walk across the floor, over to the den. He moved his right crutch from under his arm pit and moved it to his left hand before turning around and gently lowering himself down onto the couch. He dropped the crutches to the floor and brought his right foot up onto the table in front of him, resting it on a stack of pillows that had been set up there. Reaching up his hands, Ronan grabbed onto the plate that was in his mouth and brought it down to his lap.

When he grabbed the sandwich that was on the plate and lifted it to his mouth, he became acutely aware of eyes boring into him like laser beams. "What?" His voice held more bite than he intended to.

"Why didn't you just let me help you?" Mrs. Knight asked. Her tone held equal amounts of exasperation and amusement. "It would have been a lot easier for me to bring you the plate instead of you hopping around here like a gimpy frog."

Ronan playfully turned his back towards her. "I can do it by myself," he insisted. To prove his point, he took an overly exaggerated large bite of his sandwich and made a show of chewing it. Mrs. Knight tilted her head back and laughed as Ronan smiled and grabbed a napkin to wipe his face.

"So how are you kids taking the surgery and everything?" Mrs. Knight asked, twisting some of her hair around her finger. "They didn't come to the hospital with you, but they try to wait on you hand and foot when you're at home." She shook her head. "It's worrying me, really, because the guys as them to hang out, but they won't, because they're at home."

"They say it's not bothering them, but they don't give me the credit I deserve," Ronan replied, leaning forward to put his now empty plate on the table. He grimaced, realizing the stretch that was starting to burn his leg and leaned back. It wouldn't help him at all if he damaged his recently fixed leg. "I mean, I know that they say they're ok, but I can tell they're afraid I'm going to drop dead at the drop of a hat." He rested his hands on his stomach, turning his head to look at her. "It's kind of annoying in the aspect that they don't want me to worry about them…when I know them so well that I can tell it's really bothering them."

"Is Julius having that problem too?" Mrs. Knight asked. She hadn't gotten to know Julius well, if he wasn't in LA to visit his family for a week or so at a time, which was only a couple of times as year, she didn't hear much about him. All she really knew was that he was in college with his girlfriend (now wife, she couldn't help but smile when she remembered the wedding ceremony that they had traveled to Australia for), he helped Ronan with whatever he needed at the studio when he had some time off, his was an avid, basketball, soccer, and lacrosse player, and was very friendly, as well as a bit overprotective of his brothers and sisters.

"No, Julius is different," Ronan replied slowly. "He didn't have to deal with the abuse as much as his brothers and sisters did, and that was only because he was living with his grandfather, Teak Jackson, or as they call him Daddy Teak, since Robert didn't want him around. He's always felt a bit of guilt from that, since he couldn't help them in the hands on way he wanted to. He was also afraid of saying anything because he didn't want to risk them being split up, either. So he poured himself into his schoolwork to be able to get a good education to get a good job to help them in that aspect. He would, secretly, send them money every month, that they kept hidden from Robert. I only knew about it after Robert was sent to jail and I gained custody of them…"

Ronan trailed off for a minute.

Mrs. Knight watched as his face twisted into an expression of sadness. It didn't take much for him to get sad, he even admitted to crying while watching _The Notebook _and the Disney movie, _Up,_ something that his kids teased him mercilessly about. She knew that he was thinking about the court case that they had gone to for the possibility of him adopting them. He had asked Mrs. Knight to go with him, for support, just in case. She could still remember the day.

The judge had asked him "what do you think makes you fit to take care of these children?"

Ronan had thought for a long moment before replying honestly. "Because I'm their friend." He took a quick breath. "I know their likes and dislikes, I know their mannerisms and personality, and I know whenever they're upset how each of them deals with it. I know that for Riley it's better to keep pushing her and pushing her, figuratively backing her into a corner, which she hates, to get something out of her. If she is mad or upset, don't ever leave her alone, keep trying. But the opposite with Rhuben, don't push her to come to you, let her have time to herself and then do it. For Patrick, talk to him like you're normally talking to him, don't make it obvious, and he'll open up to you. Noah, if he is upset, will go into a stoic place, but then surprise you by five minutes later, coming right out with everything. But Syd's so young, as soon as something goes wrong, he'll let you know it. He'll be the first one to start talking about his day as soon as you come through the door. I know that when Sydney is thinking, his eyes will shift back and forth like he's reading a sheet of paper in front of him. I know that Noah stretches his arms over his head whenever he's about to make a joke. I know that Riley clenches her hands into fists whenever she's in emotional or physical pain and will do it rapidly, opening and closing her hands in fists, when she's mad and trying to calm herself down."

Ronan licked his lips. "I know that Rhuben is allergic to mushrooms, almonds, hazelnuts, and lettuce and I'll inspect her food like crazy to be sure that it's not a mistake. I give catering a specific menu and recipes to make sure that that doesn't happen and I always carry a epipen on me just in case. I keep an inhaler on me for the same reason as they all have asthma. I know that Patrick is a lot smarter than he acts and people don't give him the credit. I know everything about them that I need to know and I'm pleasantly surprised if I find out new things. No one else is going to know that."

"If I'm correct, you are a foster parent," Eric Davidson, the case worker said as he ruffled through his files.

"That's correct," Ronan agreed.

"But you've never had a foster kid before?"

"No, I've had a few, boys," Ronan admitted. "But they didn't stay for too long."

"And why is that?"

"Because with my line of profession, my hours are crazy as you never know when something is going to come up. Some people didn't see that I was fit to be a foster parent for that reason, I couldn't always be there and I couldn't always bring them to the studio with me."

"I see," Eric said. He had left it at that.

After a few more questions, the case had been turned over to the judge to hear what they had to say. Even Mrs. Knight had to let out a gasp when she heard that the judge didn't think that Ronan was a good foster parent for them, under the circumstance that the kids had been abused and needed professional help to get over it, and they didn't think that being in the spotlight was the way to go, especially as Ronan and others had mentioned that he considered himself 'married to his job'. She had been as devastated as Ronan was, though she showed it more. She could tell just from looking at him that Ronan was trying not to cry, especially as the Jacksons had stood up and loudly voiced their opinions on the matter.

But the judge didn't care, he meant what he said and he wasn't going to change his mind. Ronan had given each of the Jacksons a hug and words of encouragement before he went over to Eric and gave him the epipen and inhaler, as well as an extra cell phone 'just in case'. They had been gone for the whole weekend, even Big Time Rush had been depressed and shocked when they heard what happened and didn't want to do anything, just because they were in sheer shock. What shocked them even more was when they found out that the Jacksons had gone to the judge's house and explained why Ronan was a fit father for him and that they would rather run away than have someone else that didn't understand them to adopt them.

It must have worked as by the net Monday, they had gone back to Ronan's apartment and gave him the good news and things had been good for them ever since, though there were still some things that they had to work through.

"Not many people know this, but studying is really hard for him, because he has short term memory loss," Ronan continued to explain. "When the fire broke out at their house, it was so chaotic…he ended up being hit by a car and was in a coma for a bit, which caused his memory loss. He wasn't able to go and say goodbye to his parents like his brothers and sisters did so that's been weighing on him for years. He wasn't there, at first, when his brothers and sisters were taken into foster care. It was kind of like an orphanage, but not really. When he came out of the com and was able to function well enough to leave, it was shortly before Robert took them into his car. I don't know how he was able to talk them into it. But he knew that he couldn't take care of all of them, so he sent Julius off to live with Teak, when they found him as a living relative. But Teak was so old that he couldn't take them all in, so he just raised Julius and tried to stay in contact with the others as much as possible.

"It's something that he's still trying to get over, as you'll notice every now and then that he'll forget what you just asked him a second before, or forget where he just put something down, or forget doing something you just asked him to do. But other than that, everything is fine with him and his brothers and sisters adore him, even though he still feels badly about everything that happened with Robert."

"So you try to do everything yourself to prove that you can be a good father to them all?" Mrs. Knight shook her head. "Ronan, they can't take them back, you know."

"I _do_ know," Ronan agreed. "But sometimes I can't help but wake up in the middle of the night, thinking that I heard the phone ring and wondering if it's the case worker saying they made a mistake or something."

"The mistake would be if they took them away again," Mrs. Knight reminded him. "And the only way that'll happen is if you go bankrupt."

"I don't think we'll have a problem with that," Ronan replied mysteriously. "Not with what Julius and Brittany suggested o me, anyway?"

"Really?" Mrs. Knight looked interested. "What'd they say?"

"It's a surprise, I can't say until later," Ronan replied. He laughed when Mrs. Knight gave him a stern look, crossing her arms over his chest. "Sorry, I'm not one of your kids, looks like that don't work on me unless it's coming from my own mother." He looked towards the ceiling. "Though god knows she's probably has something to say about everything."

Mrs. Knight suddenly felt self-conscious. She had only been around his mother and father a handful of times. His father was perfectly fine, a nice, funny, and smart man that always had a story to tell or some joke to give that could make everyone roll with laughter. But his mother was more…strict and hands on with his son's life. She hadn't particularly liked the idea of Ronan adopting the Jacksons and she always had something to say about them, but she wasn't sure if she had something to say about _her. _Mrs. Knight didn't even know if Ronan had told his mother about her. She suddenly felt the same way she did when hers and Kevin's marriage started to go downhill; that there was something that she wasn't being told.

Like she was being held back from something.

Like there was some sort of secret that everyone but her knew.

"Does she have anything to say about us?" Mrs. Knight asked.

"Not that I'm aware of," Ronan said slowly. "I try not to talk about you whenever she's around. My dad likes you though," he added quickly.

Mrs. Knight frowned. "Why don't you talk to your mother about me? If there's a possibility of becoming her daughter in law, she's gonna have to know." Ronan gave her a funny look. "What?"

"Since when did we agree to get married?" He asked.

He laughed as Mrs. Knight's face turned as red as her hair. She had been thinking about her marriage with Kevin and now she somehow managed to have it bleed over into her relationship with Ronan. But she really had to think about it.

Did she _want _to get married to him?

Mrs. Knight knew that she felt really strongly for him and that she wouldn't find anyone else that understood the things that she was going through, in her family life, her work life, and what had gone on with Kevin. She didn't know exactly what she felt for him, but she knew she didn't feel the same way about Kevin.

"I'm just thinking out loud," Mrs. Knight finally replied. Ronan shifted so that he was facing her, though Mrs. Knight had to think that it was a painful position, as he couldn't move his right leg from the elevated position. Or else his foot would continue to swell.

"But you do realize that if we'd get married, you'd have to actually get a divorce from your husband," Ronan reminded her. "You're only separated. Plus, he doesn't pay child support as well as he used to, so that's something to think about as well as the media coverage it would get."

Mrs. Knight understood, she knew what it was like to be in the spotlight now. She understood why many celebrities would get so scared about what could potentially be put in the magazines and tabloids. But she wasn't that famous, the only things she really had to worry about was what lies were said about her relationship with Ronan, her husband, and her kids.

"But it's not like I haven't thought about it." Ronan's voice broke her out of her thoughts. "Getting married I mean." He shrugged casually. "I've thought about it," He continued. "Pretty seriously actually. And I think it's something that could be possible." Mrs. Knight smiled and leaned forward, giving him a kiss. She stood up and grabbed onto the paper plate and started to walk to the kitchen to throw it away. "Hey, while you're up, could you make me another sandwich?"

Mrs. Knight rolled her eyes and turned back around, frisbeeing the plate towards Ronan as he laughed.

* * *

**A/N: **I hope you guys liked the chapter! :D

Cheers,

-Riles


	15. 24seven

**.:Chapter 15:.**

* * *

**Warning, long author's note at the end.**

* * *

Rhuben let out a sigh as she pushed herself away from her computer. She ran a hand through her hair, pulling the ends over her shoulders. She looked up at the ceiling for a long moment before reaching up and ripping her ear buds out of her ears; effectively cutting off the music that was playing. She looked up at the music program that was sitting on her computer. She was supposed to be working on some new beats that could potentially be used for their new album, or samples for other bands, but nothing seemed to be working out well. Not that she could say that her mind was completely on it, she was being careful not to have her music too loud just in case Ronan needed her help with something.

His surgery went well and he was doing fine on his crutches, but he was pushing himself more than he should have been. The doctor said that he had to take as much rest as possible so that he didn't flex his tendon and so his feet didn't swell. But if there was anyone that she knew that didn't listen to doctors, it was Ronan. But that was also how he seemed to heal quicker, by not listening to the doctors.

_But that doesn't mean that he knows what he's doing. _Rhuben gave a half smile as she heard a commotion from outside her room and turned just in time to see Patrick walking quickly by her door. He had a large smile on his face and turned around so that he was walking backwards. _No doubt he's bugging Ronan about something._

"C'mon Old Man, you have to get _some _exercise while you're on crutches," he said before disappearing from the doorway.

Rhuben waited a few minutes and Ronan slowly walked by swinging his crutches in front of him as he went. Her smile widened when she noticed the look of annoyance on his face. "Don't think that just because I'm on crutches that I can't move fast," he warned.

_If Ronan does manager to catch him, I wonder if I can get Pat's part of our CD Collection_, Rhuben turned to her phone as it started to ring. She grabbed onto it her phone as it started to ring, the vibration that was set on it as well, made it move across her desk. She answered the call, putting her phone to her ear. "Hello?"

"Before you say anything, Sugar, I _swear _I meant to call you earlier, but then my phone died and I couldn't find my charger, and I was so busy and…yeah," Dak said all in one breath. Rhuben laughed quietly. "But seriously, I'm sorry I haven't called, I really meant to. I miss you."

"I know," Rhuben replied. "If you had the strength, you'd probably move mountains to be able to do it." She rolled her eyes. "So how's everything going over there? Did they figure out who the rest of your cast mates are yet?"

"No, they're still casting some of them, so I'm probably going to be able to come back sooner than we thought," Dak replied. "Since they were supposed to have the full cast done by the time I got out there, but what can you do." Rhuben clearly see him shrugging carelessly. Not much bothered him when it came to having deadlines and rehearsals and castings being pushed back, he was used to it at that point. The entertainment business was more complicated than most people thought it was. "Actually, I also wondered how you guys were taking the news."

"What news?" Rhuben frowned.

"About Logan and Camille," Dak pressed. "I mean, it can't be easy knowing that their pictures got out all over the internet. It was all tame at first, but the fact that Camille sent him a topless one, frankly, I'm surprised about." He paused. "How have you not heard about it It's on TMZ and everything."

_Fuck. _Rhuben turned to her computer and navigated into her web browser before looking into it. She let out a low whistle when she saw the pictures that the two had sent each other. Each one was more risqué than the last. Thankfully, neither of them had sent a picture where they were completely naked, but it was getting there. Rhuben reached out and quickly closed her laptop. It was times like these that she was glad that in her's and Riley's contract that if they posed nude, topless, or even appeared topless for anything they would be dropped from their label no questions asked. That way nothing like this would happen. "That puts a new spin on a picture being worth a thousand words," she said.

"I never thought that Logan would be the kind of person to take pictures like that," Dak commented.

Rhuben gave a bark of laughter. "Please," she snorted. "You're lucky that you haven't been around lately. He's been acting more like a jerk than usual. Riles is mad at him because of what he said about our dating habits…"she rolled her eyes, feeling a bit annoyed about it too. She was probably a bit more annoyed than Riley was, only because she had briefly dated Logan a while back and he was the one that knew firsthand what her dating habit was. It wasn't that annoying that he told the other guys, since they probably told each other everything about their girlfriends. But she understood Riley's frustrations in the fact that he came out with it so quickly.

"Yeah, I heard about that," Dak said slowly. "But does it really surprise you that he started to act like a jerk? I mean, the guys had shot to their level of popularity pretty quickly. So their fame was bound to affect one of them in this way at some point. I've seen it happen a lot, though to be completely honest, I figured that it would have happened to James."

"No, James doesn't ever want to end up like that, his father is kind of that way and he's not really close to him…it's a long story," Rhuben said. She shifted her phone to her other ear. "And even if he was, he couldn't be as bad as Logan. He's throwing his money around like crazy, all he does is want opinions on the pictures that he's sending to Camille and-"

"Wait!" Dak broke in. "He's been sending you the pictures he's sent to Camille?"

"Not all of them, thankfully, but a few," Rhuben replied. She then rolled her eyes, slapping herself on the forehead. "Please tell me that you're not jealous about it. 'Cause if you are, then that's incredibly stupid." She clenched her hand into a fist. "I'm in a relationship with _you_ not him. I thought I proved that by now."

"Well excuse me for the distance making me a little bit insecure," Dak shot back. "I trust you, but how can I trust that he doesn't want to wait until I'm gone to make another move on you? I mean, you did go out with him, like, twice-"

"And one time you told me to!" Rhuben reminded him.

"I know!" Dak sounded just as frustrated as she was. She heard him give a huff of annoyance. "Just so I could be sure that…I don't really know what I was trying to be sure of. That all of my persistence wasn't going to waste. Like I said, I trust you, but I'm not sure about him."

"So what d'you want me to do, stickybeak?" Rhuben demanded. "Drop him as a friend."

"I didn't say that."

"You didn't have to."

There was a brief pause.

Rhuben tilted her head back and looked up at the ceiling. It was like that every now and then, not the fighting, but the stress of their situation being evident in each other's voices. It was the same thing every time one of them was out of town for an extended period of time. The other would wait for the specific time that they had figured out would be the best to call due to the time difference. At first, the worry of breaking up was something that loomed over their heads. Everyone knew that having a long distance relationship was hard, most of their friends were in one, as their bands were constantly leaving to go film or do some appearance, but the Rhuben and her siblings had it harder as they were always in Australia for six months of the year, if it wasn't extended due to a series or shows or a tour. Most people weren't mature enough for a long distance stint but stereotypes were always made to be broken and they were doing a good job of it so far.

While their loneliness and frustration of being apart could easily make one or the other mad, there hadn't been anything that was enough to split them apart. Dak broke the silence. "Tell you what, Sugar, when I get back to LA, we're one for one hell of a date, ok? I mean the works. I'll take you out for the whole day and we'll do whatever you want."

Rhuben smiled softly, all annoyances draining out of her. "I'd like that."

* * *

Stephanie pushed her bowl of cereal away from her before reaching over to pick up her glass of orange juice. Her father sat across from her, looking at the newspaper. She let out a frustrated sigh and placed her orange juice back on the table before crossing her arms and facing her father. He continued to look over the newspaper, but Stephanie could tell from the way that his eyes were moving that he wasn't really reading the newspaper at all.

"Dad," she said quietly. "Can we please talk about this?" Mr. King put down the newspaper and silently regarded his daughter. "Carlos didn't intend to be disrespectful, it's just when he really feels strongly about something, and it's hard to get him off of it." She held up a hand when Mr. King opened his mouth to say something. "You couldn't have expected either of us to be happy with _your _decision."

"I made that decision for _you_," Mr. King reiterated.

"But you didn't talk to me about it at all," Stephanie pointed out. "Everything was fine with me and Carlos. My grades were good and my films were good, too."

"But they weren't _great,_" Mr. King explained. "Stephanie, you have a lot of potential in everything you do. Especially your film career and I don't want anything to hold you back from that possibility. Even though you're in love with Carlos, you're still young and you have the rest of your life to settle down with whomever you want. I just think that right now you need to focus on furthering your career and ultimately figure out what it is that you want to do with your life."

Stephanie stood up, taking her bowl and glass with her. "Whatever you say, Dad." She wasn't going to fight him on it, there was no way that he was going to change his mind at this point, and she was just wasting her breath. She would have to come to terms with the fact that she and Carlos weren't going to be together for a while. Stephanie washed her dishes in the sink and turned to go to her room.

"By the way, a small package came for you in the mail today," Mr. King said. "I put it on your bed."

"Alright. I'll check it out and then I'm headed to get some shots," Stephanie said. She picked up her video camera from the counter before walking into her bedroom. She walked over to her bed where a small box had been placed on her pillow. She picked it up and looked it over, surprised that there was no address on it. Shrugging, she opened it to see an mp3 player in her hand with a sticky note that read 'READ ME' on the front. She stuck the earbuds in her ears and pressed play.

Her eyebrows rose when she heard Carlos's voice come out of the headphones.

_Fifty girls at the door  
And they all wanna roll, wanna roll, but I gotta say no  
One girl that I'm looking for, there, there she go  
I knew you'd be back for another round  
Give me a chance to lay you down_

The night is young  
We're having fun  
Show me love, hit me up  
You're so beautiful  
When we dance  
Heaven opens up  
Girl I just thought that I should let you know (let you know)

Baby, when the night is done, I'll let you go  
But I promise you'll be back for more  
I wanna touch you like I did before  
So baby take my hand, take my hand

I'm a make you love me again (make you love me again, love me again)  
I'm a make you love me again (make you love me again)  
I'm a make you love me again

Stephanie smiled.

* * *

Kendall looked up as the door to the swirly slide was flung open. It crashed against the wall with a loud bang as Riley walked through the door. She grimaced as she looked at the hole before sliding down the swirly slide, landing on the floor feet first.

"You seem to be getting the hang of that now," Kendall commented, referring to the many times that she and her siblings would fall to the floor by the speed they had gone down the slide.

"Yeah, my ass definitely thanks me," Riley commented with a roll of her eyes. "What's up, Hockey-Head?" She sat down on the couch next to him and the two did their secret handshake. She pushed some of her hair behind her ear, her blue eyes boring into his. Her eyebrows lowered. "You look weird, like…you just lost your best friend or something."

"If that were the case, you'd know that for sure, since James would be angry, Carlos would probably be crying, and Logan would be begging me to take him back," Kendall replied.

"Its comments like those that make me wonder if the whole Kogan, Kames, and Kenlos thing is real," Riley said slowly. "And if it is, it's better than I know now so I can fully adjust to it." Riley smirked as Kendall looked towards the ceiling. She then looked curious as he continued to look at the ceiling. "What? You're starting to scare me, Kendall."

Kendall winced at that. He wished that she had continued to call him Hockey-Head or used any of his other nicknames that would have made everything easier. But no, she had to go and call him by his real name, which she only did when she was being serious or when she was mad at him. This time he knew it was going to be because of both reasons. Kendall finally turned his head and looked at her. _I always thought that playing hockey was something I would trade anything in the world for, now I'm not sure. _He took a breath.

"I got a really good opportunity to play hockey," he said slowly. "I've been invited to go to Vegas to try out for the time, since it's a California team. And if I make the team, most of the practicing and conditioning and stuff, it's all going to be done in Vegas, and then the games will be around the US."

"But, I thought that you were going to do Heffron Drive with Dustin," Riley said slowly. "I mean, if Big Time Rush doesn't keep going."

"I am," Kendall replied. He licked his lips. "That's the good thing about doing things in LA, Vegas is only a four hour drive away. Of course, depending on how long I'd be there, I may need to get a place out there too, but I haven't thought that far ahead."

"Really?" Riley's eyes flashed, her face starting to turn red. "Because it seems like you had enough time to figure out how far Vegas is and how you'd be able to do that and Heffron Drive at the same time." She scowled as she started to rub her arm. "Like you have everything figured out."

Kendall reached out to play with her hair, like he usually did whenever they were talking with each other, (if they weren't thumb wrestling or arm wrestling or anything of that sort) but she jerked her head out of reach. He smiled to himself, remembering that her competitive spirit being one of the things that attracted him to her in the first place. "Are you mad?"

"No!" Riley snapped, her knee bouncing up and down.

"Then what are you?" Kendall pressed, knowing that it was better than her keeping everything inside. "What are you thinking?"

"I'M NOT MAD, OK?!" She lowered her head, her hair over her face. "Trust me, mate, you don't want to know what I'm thinking." She started to mess with her shoelaces. Kendall watched her, waiting for her to continue. "When are you leaving?"

"I haven't even decided if I'm going to do it," Kendall said quickly. Both of them knew that was a lie, as soon as she had gotten the news in the first place, he was as good as gone. "Besides, I still need to talk to Mom about it and figure out what's going to happen with that. And we don't know where Mom and Katie are going to go if the band ends, especially since Gustavo is paying for our rent here."

"You and I both know that you're going to go try out and that you're going to make it," Riley said in a low voice. "So don't kid yourself on that." She pushed her hair out of her face. "When do you leave?" She repeated in a subdued voice.

Kendall's eyes widened. "You don't want me to go," he accused. Riley was silent. Kendall gently grabbed onto her chin and forced her to look at him. "You don't want me to go, do you?" It was surprising to him, she had support him on everything that he needed help with over the years, including hockey, and now that he had an amazing opportunity, she wasn't supporting him on it.

"Is that so bad?" Riley's frown turned into a pout. "For once we're in a happy place in our relationship with no drama, our careers are going well, and we've managed to make a long distance relationship work. Now you want to go and make that distance even further. Excuse me for wanting to hold onto something that I feel is really stable in my life. A career in the music industry can come and go really fast, but…"

She trailed off, turning away again. Kendall understood what she meant. He had been there for her from the very beginning, even when they weren't friends when he and Logan had figured out and that she and her siblings were being abused and helped send him away to jail. But things were still hard for them, they almost lost out on being adopted by Ronan, they still had nightmares and PTSD of their abuse to work through, and they still had to work through their parents' death, which would have been ten years since, later that year. And he had helped her the best that he could through it all, which made them go from not being friends, to being friends, to being best friends, to going out.

Now it was all being ripped away for a great opportunity to live out his real dream.

"But like I said, you're going to go and you're going to make the team-"she finally gave a gentle smile. "I know you will."

"You're not going to ask me to stay?" Kendall eyed her warily.

"I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I knew I was the reason that you didn't take it," Riley said. She shrugged. "So there's no point."

"Hm." Kendall rubbed his neck, and then surprised her with the next statement that came out of his mouth. It was something that he never thought that he would ever do in his entire life. He wouldn't even do it when Jo was talking about her opportunity to go to New Zealand. He looked right into her dark blue eyes with his green ones, in an intense stare. "Ask me to stay."

"No," Riley said stubbornly. She didn't even have to think about it.

"I'm serious." Kendall grabbed onto her hand and squeezed it tight in his. "Ask me to stay."

"Like hell that's happening." Riley glared at him and got to her feet, starting to stalk off towards the door to the crib. Kendall got off of the couch and followed her.

"Do it."

"Fuck off!"

"Riles!"

"WHAT DO YOU WANT ME TO SAY?" Riley yelled at the top of her lungs, whirling back around to face him, glaring fiercely. "Huh? WHAT DO YOU WANT ME TO SAY?!" She started to gesticulate wildly with her hands and arms. "Do you want me to say that for the first time in my life I feel like I have the capability to love someone? How I don't want to lose that chance? How I'll stop calling you Hockey-Head? How I'll stop giving you every nickname that I can think of." Her shoulders slumped and she lowered her voice. "I'll stop putting you down and calling you and idiot and I'll help you the best that I can with anything else." She started to sound desperate. "I'll stop being so competitive. I'll try to think before I say something. I'll stop doing every bad or risky thing that I can think of for fun. I'll stop lying to you, I'll try not to be as mean, and I'll try to stop yelling. I won't be a jerk anymore." She took a shaky breath before looking at her feet. "And, of course, there's always the fact that you've pointed out enough, that I haven't stopped talking since I met you." she lifted her head and Kendall saw that there were tears in her eyes, ready to spill down her cheeks. "Kendall, if I'm really quiet…will you stay?"

Kendall reached out a hand as the tears started to fall, and wiped off her cheeks. Riley ducked her head as she started to cry and Kendall pulled her into his arms, allowing her to cry into his chest.

* * *

"What are we waiting for? We've got an album to work on!" Gustavo drummed his fingers on the large conference table. He glanced at Kendall, Logan, Carlos, and James, hoping to see something in their faces that would give away what they were thinking. He wanted, no, _needed_ to know what was going to happen with their future so that he could plan accordingly. But the fact that they were just sitting in front of him, patiently waiting for the Jacksons to arrive, was driving him crazy.

"We're waiting for the-"

"You don't have to do that!" Gustavo interrupted Carlos. "In fact, they probably already know what you're going to say!" He clasped his hands together in front of him. "So please spare me the stress and _just tell me_!" He turned and glared at Logan. "Or I can start with the SCANDAL that you brought on this whole band!"

Logan let out a shriek and cowered behind James. It was going to be brought up at some point. When Logan had found out about it, it was because Mr. Roberts had come to the crib and screamed at Logan for over an hour about 'humiliating his daughter' and 'pressuring her to do something like that'. Logan tried to tell him that it was a mutual decision, but figured it probably wouldn't have made a difference. He would have tried apologizing, and did, but he didn't even listen to Camille, who was completely humiliated over her father finding out as well as the rest of the world, and tried to tell him that it was partially her idea too. But Mr. Roberts had just left the apartment to cool down, leaving the two to try and figure out what to do. They didn't come up with any solution other than apologizing to their fans. They could only begin to guess what they were saying.

"God, Gustavo, at least _try_ to act like a man," Kelly reprimanded him. She reached over and placed her hands on his shoulders, pulling him up into a sitting position. When she removed her hands, Gustavo then crossed his arms over his chest and pouted, sticking out his lower lip. The boys laughed as Kelly slapped herself on the forehead, moving into a chair beside him. "Why do I even bother?"

"Frankly, I was going to ask you the same thing," Kendall said with a half smile.

Gustavo's pout deepened.

"Well, this should cheer you up," James said, sitting up straight. "Carlos and I wrote some songs that we think will be perfect for the new album. I wrote a song called _Amazing_ for Jo as an anniversary present, which I want to perform for her that night, and Carlos wrote a song for Stephanie called _Love Me Again _that we think will be good too."

"Hey!" Kendall looked offended. "You took the song writing idea off of me!"

"Yeah, but it works for us, better than you," Carlos replied sticking his tongue out at Kendall. "Because our girlfriends actually like it."

"She does," Kendall insisted. "Deep down, I know she does."

"Hey, Logan, why don't you try writing a song for Camille or something to show Mr. Roberts how serious you are about her," Carlos suggested.

"Shut up!" Logan shot back, still avoiding Gustavo's gaze.

Everyone looked up as Ronan crutched into the room, followed by Riley, Rhuben, Patrick, Noah, and Sydney. Gustavo studied each of their faces, annoyed when he saw that they had apathetic looks on their faces. Not that that was a surprise for the Jacksons, but it just annoyed him even more so than usual. The family sat down at the table and there was a bit of silence that followed; no one wanted to be the first one to give their news. Everyone wanted to know what Big Time Rush had to say, but they also wanted to know what was going to happen with The DarkElements as well.

"Ok, I guess I'll go first," Sydney said slowly. He pushed back his chair and stood up. He crossed his arms over his chest and looked around the table. He then slid his hands into his shorts pockets. Finally he rubbed the back of his neck. "I don't really know where to start, I feel like such a boofhead."

"Don't worry, Little Man, we're going to support you with whatever you've decided," Logan said helpfully.

"That's great, because my brothers and sisters said the same thing," Sydney said, pointing over to them. "Ok." He licked his lips. "You guys know what I've been feeling for a long time. I've been tired, fed up with the way that the media has been treating me and my family, how it's been treating you guys, how it's been keeping me from being a kid…" he licked his lips. "But at the same time, I love it. I love music, I love being able to be with my best friends 24/seven, all day, every day. I love being able to make a difference in other people's lives." His eyes scanned the room. "And you all know that I had been thinking about leaving everything behind so I could be a kid, so I could take a break and keep going with my schoolwork and I realized that I can still do that in the band. The best thing about being with my family…my best friends…is that we're always going to help each other and we're always going to try and make things easy for each other.

"So while our new CD focuses more on Riles and Rhubes, which I'm sure they're still hating me, Pat, and No for it, it gives me more time to work behind the scenes. I'm going to be doing schoolwork online, I'm going to be reducing my hours in the studio so that I can still be a kid, but I'm not leaving the band. The band is my life, my family is my life, and I know that sometime in the future it's all going to end, but I'm going to keep going with the band as long as I can as long as it's around." He smiled at his siblings, who smiled and nodded back at him. He turned back to Big Time Rush. "I'm staying."

Kendall smiled and nodded. "That's great, Little-"he cut himself off and lightly shook his head. "That's great, Syd."

Sydney rolled his eyes, picking at the studded wrist band that was on his right wrist. "Ok, you don't have to start acting like everything is going to change now. Sure, I made a big deal about being called Little Man before, but that was only because I was frustrated of all of the pressure being put on me."

"Does that mean that we can still call you Baby Syd whenever we want?" Patrick asked with a mischievous smile on his face.

"Not unless you value your life," Sydney shot back as he sat down. "And..." He held up a finger, slowly smiling. "We've decided to change our band name."

He waited as Kendall, Logan, Carlos, James, Kelly, and Gustavo exchanged glances.

Change their band name?

They had been known as The DarkElements since day one, since before they had met and became friends with Big Time Rush. What else would sum up the idea of their band if they weren't called the DarkElements?

Riley spoke up.

"We started off as the DarkElements due to an inside family joke," she explained. "But also because of the things that we've gone through. You all know that we were the DarkElements as a way to let people know about the abuse that we were going through. That was the point behind our 'dark' music and the themes of the songs that we did too. But now we've changed. Sure, we're doing some heavy stuff, but it's not about the same things they were about before. Our songs are about life in general and that's why we changed our style a little bit to go back and add Pop-Rock into our genre."

"It was the kind of music that we started with and we always knew, deep in our hearts, that it was the kind of music that we would probably go back to." Rhuben rested her elbows on the table and pressed her fingertips together, showing off her dark nail polish. "So with everything that we've been through, we actually have to thank you guys for the new direction that we're taking with our music, even if its darker, it has the uplifting messages to it at times as you've heard with some of our songs. And we wanted our band name to reflect that."

"We also wanted to show that Ronan was a big part of helping us as well." Ronan looked surprised as Patrick continued. He exchanged a look with Mrs. Knight and shrugged. He had no idea what they were going to say. "So, with that being said, under Syd's suggestion, we've decided to change our band name from The DarkElements to Blazing Phoenix, using the symbolism of a phoenix being reborn and rising out of the ashes to start anew."

"So with the way that we're all starting to look into the future with our lives, we think that it's symbolic for everything," Noah said. He cleared his throat. "And while we don't know what you guys have decided with your futures, we still wanted to thank you for all that you've done for us."

Big Time Rush was silent in reply.

Over the past three years, a lot of things have happened to them; they helped the Jacksons get rid of their father, they went to the trial where Robert was finally sent away, their friendships and relationships were tested and through it all, the Jacksons had been there for them and they had been there for the Jacksons. They had helped Big Time Rush with their music, and the industry, and the media ever since they started working together and they were so close that they now didn't even have to ask each other for help, they would do it regardless.

"Wow, that just makes this harder," Kendall said, wiping his mouth. "But I think that I should just go ahead and say what I have to say." He held his hands out towards Gustavo and Kelly. "First off, we want to thank you two for everything that you've done to us. You've become part of our family, not just our co-workers and we want to thank you both for taking the time to work with us." He took a deep breath, looking over at James, Carlos, and Logan, who nodded in reply. "But as it stands, after this new album is out and after this tour is over, we don't see Big Time Rush continuing." He placed a hand on his chest. "I got this _amazing_ opportunity to pay hockey and I don't see how I can turn it down. But I've really grown to love music and I'm not going to give that up. So while I'm playing hockey and focusing more on that, I'm still going to be working on music with Heffron Drive, and putting out songs and I hope that you can continue to support me with that decision."

"Like Kendall said, I've got a really good opportunity too," Carlos said. "I'm…I'm in love with Steph just as much as I love to sing and perform with these guys. I need to focus on making our relationship work. But, I've also come to realize that I've had fun _behind_ the camera on our video shoots and stuff. I learned a lot about that sort of stuff. So being a cinematographer or being a director is something that I'd like to work on." He grinned and put an arm around Kendall's shoulders. "If I don't become a hockey player, too."

"And with me…well, I think we all know what I want to do." James laughed. "Performing is my life; it's something that I've always wanted to do. And…it'll be weird not having my best buds with me, but I think it's time that I go out and see how I can do on my own. That was something that I've wanted to achieve since I was born and I think this is the time for me to do that."

"Same here." Logan held up a hand. "I…I can't be a doctor if I continue to let the fame and bad decision that I make change the way I react to things. I wouldn't have the time to ever be a doctor if I continued to work on this band. And as it goes, I think that Big Time Rush has run its course." Logan then looked at Gustavo and Kelly, who had been quiet the whole time. "We really do thank you guys for everything that you all have done for us and with us and we know that we couldn't have gotten to where we are without both of you. I don't think that we can ever thank you enough."

Gustavo slowly stood up, pushing back his chair. He looked each boy in the face before giving a smile. "We better make the best of the time that we have right now." He raised his hands. "I knew that this wasn't going to last forever, but I'm glad that we were able to have this opportunity to work together. And while I do call you 'dogs' and 'monkeys' and 'monkey-dogs' you're still my friends and Kelly and I are really proud of you."

'Wow." Mrs. Knight looked impressed. "I think that was the nicest thing that you've ever said to them."

"Yeah, well…" Gustavo looked uncomfortable. "It was bound to happen sometime." He cracked his knuckles. "But that brings me to my next point, with this new album that's coming out; we're going to help Ronan here." He motioned over to the man that was suddenly interested in his crutches. "He's worried about his company and digital sales and everything, but some of the proceeds that we have for our album and tour is going to go to his company to be sure that it doesn't fall. We've decided to, in a way, combine our companies."

"Aww really?" Carlos looked sad. "And you tell us this _after _we decide not to continue Big Time Rush?"

"Well, last I checked, Big Time Rush isn't over yet," Rhuben said with a smile. "You can spend as much time as you want on this album as you want to make sure it's 'perfect'." She used condescending air quotes around the words, as it was something that they had talked about doing on their last album.

"Although there's no such thing as perfect," Patrick added.

"Coming from the band that can come up with a hit at the drop of a hat," Logan teased. "But seriously, thanks for everything guys."

"No worries," Noah waved a hand. "What are friends for?"

"Singing a song," Kendall jumped in. He nodded over to Carlos, who started to pass around some sheet music. "To the song that we wrote in the past week, called _24seven._"

"It's about living every day to the fullest," James explained. "And that's what we're going to do until whatever happens, happens." He motioned to the Jacksons. "And of course we needed your help with it."

"Of course," Riley agreed with a smirk.

Logan pulled up the track to the song.

"I can feel it in the air; I like the truth but love the dare. Livin' life like it's a vacation," Kendall started out the song, tapping his hand against his leg to the beat of song.

"We are golden like the sun, Never, never bend, we all stay young." Carlos sang a bright smile on his face. "'Cause we're the here and now generation."

Logan and James smiled at each other as they came in to the song. "Tryand knock us down, we'll get up every time. We can run this town, so let's do what we like, do what we like."

"All day, every day is a holiday. We're alright, 24/Seven! All day, every day all we gotta say so live your life, 24/Seven. Woooooo. Wooooooo. 24/Seven. Woooooo. Wooooooo. 24/Seven."

"We got no one to impress, looking bright no matter how we dress." Logan blushed under Gustavo's gaze at the line of the song but continued singing. "Standing up forever 'cause there is no wind."

"It doesn't matter where you're from…" Carlos moved across the room and put his arms around Patrick's and Noah's shoulders, causing the Jacksons to laugh. "We're all together here as one. Tomorrow comes, we'll do it all again, yeah."

"Try and knock us down. we'll get up every time," The Jacksons came into the song at the same time, their similar voices blending together perfectly. "We can run this town; so let's do what we like, do what we like."

The two bands came together when the chorus came back around. "All day, every day is a holiday. We're alright, 24/seven! All day, every day everybody's saying live your life, 24/seven! All day, every day is a holiday! We're alright, 24/seven! All day, every day everybody's saying live your life, 24/seven. Woooooo. Woooooooo. 24/seven. Woooooo. Woooooooo. 24/seven."

The two bands continued through the song, giving Big Time Rush more of the lyrics while the Jacksons moved to backing vocals and singing on the chorus. Smiles were all around, but it covered up the inevitable sadness that was going to go through everyone, not just in the room, but in the world when they found out the news that Big Time Rush was ending.

"Hey Kendall." James nudged the blonde teenager on the arm.

"Yeah?" Kendall looked at him.

"Thanks for making my dreams come true," James said quietly.

Kendall looked around at everyone in the room; all of their friends and family were together; talking, laughing, and having a good time. For a moment, he felt a little sad. The future was coming up sooner than they anticipated, soon they were all going to be going their different ways, but even if that were the case, they were still going to be a family that supported each other in everything that they were going to do. In a way, all of their dreams had come true, but it wasn't like things were over yet. They still had an album to finish, they still had a tour to go one, and they still had the time that they could spend with their best friends.

They were going to make sure they had a blast while they did it.

It was ride or die time and they were going to ride their opportunity until the very end.

"You're welcome." Kendall smiled.

**THE END**

* * *

**A/N: **You probably didn't see this ending coming so fast, but there's a reason for it and it was done on purpose. The fact that this story was more about how the guys dealt with their lives being put in the spotlight was always meant to show that while you're able to deal with it, the more popular you get, the less it's going to go away. (Unless you're a celebrity that's _really _good about hiding it and there are a few). So that's why I thought it was realistic that the story ended without all of the storylines being resolved as I had planned from the very first moment I started this story. (Though I got frustrated around chapter 13 with how some of them were/weren't going). Celebrities aren't ever going to get away from the prying eyes of those wanting to know more about their lives and I think that I showed it well here. The only thing I'm pissed about is (again) I've managed to neglect Logan, Camille, Dak, WayneWayne, Patrick, Katie, Noah, and Lizzie when I didn't mean to and I planned on showing more of the backup dancers and that didn't work out either (though that'll be made up for in other fics as most things usually are). The part where Sydney decided to stay I'm doing as a deleted scene since because it's better on its own.

So what did you guys think? I decided to change the idea that I had for _Elevate_ from how the story went with the songs being done, because I didn't want it to be as obvious as the last one. I also purposefully did it where you didn't see every song done; just my personal favorites and some that I thought would make sense to the story. (Plus when I started this fic, I realized I didn't know how all of the songs went as the album hadn't come out). _Love Me Again _I knew how I wanted that do be done for the fic as soon as I heard the song, strictly because with the _With Friends Like These _series, I liked the idea of Carlos and Stephanie being married (kind of) really young, and while I think that would be canon for our timeline, here I made it that they got engaged in secret of Stephanie's father while for the stories that we'd do during our season 4 timeline, it'll be done differently.

That being said, this story ends before any of the CDs are finished (Enigma, Epic, or 24/Seven) and because they aren't finished, it means that everything that happened in this story was before the season would even be halfway over. I hope that what I made the guys choose you think was realistic for each of them and that they all came together in a good way. I don't know if it'll be canon for our timeline at this minute, it's just what I thought would make sense, especially since when I started this story (and ended it) the season wasn't over yet and I didn't know how it would and what happens to the guys in real life. It could end where the guys are still a band and if that's the case, then (like I've said before) this story is set very loosely on the timeline.

Some people may think that Riley was a bit OOC in this (I don't think she is, but some might) and I feel that with everything else that Riley had supported Kendall on, be it hockey, his music, or anything else that he needed support with, I think that this would be the one time where she would feel selfish and not want him to leave. Of course she would want him to be able to play hockey (and he will) but she would be very sad to have him leave, especially if he would be doing music with Heffron Drive in LA, working out with the hockey team in Minnesota and/or Vegas (I might do Vegas because that's where Kendall's new house/apartment is in real life) and then having to be gone to play games all the time.

Thanks for sticking with me for another story, you all are the best and I couldn't have enjoyed (or endured really) writing this story without you all. Thanks for the support, favorites, and alerts, and for all of the kind words as this story went on.

Cheers,

-Riles


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